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Presidents 1,125 words
The election of Andrew Jackson was heralded as a new
page in the history of the Republic. The first military leader
elected President since George Washington, he was much admired by the
electorate, who came to Washington to celebrate "Old Hickory's"
inauguration. Outgoing President Adams did not join in the ceremony,
which was held for the first time on the East Portico of the Capitol
building. Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath of
office. After the proceedings at the Capitol, a large group of
citizens walked with the new President along Pennsylvania Avenue to
the White House, and many of them visited the executive mansion that
day and evening. Such large numbers of people arrived that many of
the furnishings were ruined. President Jackson left the building by a
window to avoid the crush of people.
Fellow-Citizens: About to undertake the arduous duties that I have been
appointed to perform by the choice of a free people, I avail
myself of this customary and solemn occasion to express the
gratitude which their confidence inspires and to acknowledge
the accountability which my situation enjoins. While the
magnitude of their interests convinces me that no thanks can
be adequate to the honor they have conferred, it admonishes
me that the best return I can make is the zealous dedication
of my humble abilities to their service and their good. As the instrument of the Federal Constitution it will
devolve on me for a stated period to execute the laws of the
United States, to superintend their foreign and their
confederate relations, to manage their revenue, to command
their forces, and, by communications to the Legislature, to
watch over and to promote their interests generally. And the
principles of action by which I shall endeavor to accomplish
this circle of duties it is now proper for me briefly to
explain. In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep
steadily in view the limitations as well as the extent of
the Executive power, trusting thereby to discharge the
functions of my office without transcending its authority.
With foreign nations it will be my study to preserve peace
and to cultivate friendship on fair and honorable terms, and
in the adjustment of any differences that may exist or arise
to exhibit the forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather
than the sensibility belonging to a gallant people. In such measures as I may be called on to pursue in
regard to the rights of the separate States I hope to be
animated by a proper respect for those sovereign members of
our Union, taking care not to confound the powers they have
reserved to themselves with those they have granted to the
Confederacy. The management of the public revenue--that searching
operation in all governments--is among the most delicate and
important trusts in ours, and it will, of course, demand no
inconsiderable share of my official solicitude. Under every
aspect in which it can be considered it would appear that
advantage must result from the observance of a strict and
faithful economy. This I shall aim at the more anxiously
both because it will facilitate the extinguishment of the
national debt, the unnecessary duration of which is
incompatible with real independence, and because it will
counteract that tendency to public and private profligacy
which a profuse expenditure of money by the Government is
but too apt to engender. Powerful auxiliaries to the
attainment of this desirable end are to be found in the
regulations provided by the wisdom of Congress for the
specific appropriation of public money and the prompt
accountability of public officers. With regard to a proper selection of the subjects of
impost with a view to revenue, it would seem to me that the
spirit of equity, caution, and compromise in which the
Constitution was formed requires that the great interests of
agriculture, commerce, and manufactures should be equally
favored, and that perhaps the only exception to this rule
should consist in the peculiar encouragement of any products
of either of them that may be found essential to our
national independence. Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so
far as they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of
the Federal Government, are of high importance. Considering standing armies as dangerous to free
governments in time of peace, I shall not seek to enlarge
our present establishment, nor disregard that salutary
lesson of political experience which teaches that the
military should be held subordinate to the civil power. The
gradual increase of our Navy, whose flag has displayed in
distant climes our skill in navigation and our fame in arms;
the preservation of our forts, arsenals, and dockyards, and
the introduction of progressive improvements in the
discipline and science of both branches of our military
service are so plainly prescribed by prudence that I should
be excused for omitting their mention sooner than for
enlarging on their importance. But the bulwark of our
defense is the national militia, which in the present state
of our intelligence and population must render us
invincible. As long as our Government is administered for
the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as
long as it secures to us the rights of person and of
property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be
worth defending; and so long as it is worth defending a
patriotic militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis.
Partial injuries and occasional mortifications we may be
subjected to, but a million of armed freemen, possessed of
the means of war, can never be conquered by a foreign foe.
To any just system, therefore, calculated to strengthen this
natural safeguard of the country I shall cheerfully lend all
the aid in my power. It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe
toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and
liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate
attention to their rights and their wants which is
consistent with the habits of our Government and the
feelings of our people. The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes on
the list of Executive duties, in characters too legible to
be overlooked, the task of 'reform', which will require
particularly the correction of those abuses that have
brought the patronage of the Federal Government into
conflict with the freedom of elections, and the
counteraction of those causes which have disturbed the
rightful course of appointment and have placed or continued
power in unfaithful or incompetent hands. In the performance of a task thus generally delineated I
shall endeavor to select men whose diligence and talents
will insure in their respective stations able and faithful
cooperation, depending for the advancement of the public
service more on the integrity and zeal of the public
officers than on their numbers. A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications
will teach me to look with reverence to the examples of
public virtue left by my illustrious predecessors, and with
veneration to the lights that flow from the mind that
founded and the mind that reformed our system. The same
diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid from
the coordinate branches of the Government, and for the
indulgence and support of my fellow-citizens generally. And
a firm reliance on the goodness of that Power whose
providence mercifully protected our national infancy, and
has since upheld our liberties in various vicissitudes,
encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications that He
will continue to make our beloved country the object of His
divine care and gracious benediction.
March 4, 1829