Date: 1801-03-04
President: Thomas Jefferson

 FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS,   Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country,   I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow-citizens which is   here assembled to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have   been pleased to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the   task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful   presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers   so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing   all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce   with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies   beyond the reach of mortal eye -- when I contemplate these transcendent objects,   and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed   to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation,   and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly, indeed,   should I despair did not the presence of many whom I here see remind me that   in the other high authorities provided by our Constitution I shall find resources   of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal on which to rely under all difficulties. To   you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation,   and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance   and support which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we   are all embarked amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world. During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the animation of   discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose   on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think;   but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to   the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under   the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All, too,   will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority   is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that   the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to   violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart   and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection   without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us   reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under   which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance   a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and   bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world,   during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter   his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows   should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more   felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to   measures of safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.   We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all   Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish   to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed   as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where   reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear   that a republican government can not be strong, that this Government is not   strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful   experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the   theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best hope, may   by possibility want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this,   on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth. I believe it the only one   where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law,   and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes   it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he,   then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the   forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican   principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated   by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the   globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing   a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and   thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use   of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and   confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our   actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed,   indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty,   truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring   an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights   in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter -- with all   these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous   people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens -- a wise and frugal Government,   which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise   free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not   take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good   government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities. About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend   everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what   I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which   ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest   compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations.   Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious   or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling   alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights,   as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest   bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of the General   Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace   at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people   -- a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution   where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions   of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but   to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined   militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war till regulars   may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy   in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest payment   of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture,   and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and arraignment   of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom   of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus,   and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation   which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and   reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted   to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text   of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we   trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us   hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace,   liberty, and safety. I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned me. With experience   enough in subordinate offices to have seen the difficulties of this the greatest   of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect   man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring   him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our   first and greatest revolutionary character, whose preeminent services had entitled   him to the first place in his country's love and destined for him the fairest   page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may   give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. I shall   often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought   wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground.   I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional, and   your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not   if seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great   consolation to me for the past, and my future solicitude will be to retain the   good opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of   others by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the   happiness and freedom of all. Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance with obedience   to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much better   choice it is in your power to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules   the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best, and give them   a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.