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ANDREW JACKSON AFTER HAIR
AND MAKE-UP IN 1830
Jackson's Second Inaugural Address
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Andrew Jackson.
Go here for more about
Jackson's Second Inaugural Address.
It follows the full text transcript of
Andrew Jackson's Second Inaugural Address, delivered at
the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol at Washington D.C. -
March 4, 1833.
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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.
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