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 upon me, for a stated period, to execute the laws of the United States;
to superintend their foreign and 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 difference 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 enlarging on their importance. But the bulwark of our
defence 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 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,
towards 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 are 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 ensure, in their
respective stations, able and faithful co-operation — 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 co-ordinate
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.
SOURCE: John F. Brown
and William White, Editors, Messages of
Gen. Andrew Jackson: with a Short Sketch of His Life, p. 35- 8
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