John Adams First Inaugural Address Philadelphia, PA, 1797-03-04 When it was 1st perceived, in early times, that no middle course for America remained between unlimited submission to a foreigh legislature & a total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive of danger from the formidable power of fleets & armies they must determine to resist than from those contests & dissensions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole & over the parts of this extensive country. Relying, however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, & the integrity & intelligence of the people, under an over-ruling Providence which had so signally protected this country from the 1st, the representatives of this nation, then consisting of little more than half its present number, not only broke to pieces the chains which were forging & the rod of iron that was lifted up, but frankly cut asunder the ties which had bound them, & launched into an ocean of uncertainty. The zeal & ardor of the people during the Revolutionary war, supplying the place of government, commanded a degree of order sufficient at least for the temporary preservation of society. The confederation which was early felt to be necessary was prepared from the models of the Batavian & Helvetic confederacies, the only examples which remain with any detail & precision in history, & certainly the only ones which the people at large had ever considered. But reflecting on the striking difference in so many particulars between this country & those where a courier may go from the seat of government to the frontier in a single day, it was then certainly foreseen by some who assisted in Congress at the formation of it that it could not be durable. Negligence of its regulations, inattention to its recommendations, if not disobedience to its authority, not only in individuals but in states, soon appeared with their melancholy consequences - universal languor, jealousies & rivalries of states, decline of navigation & commerce, discouragement of necessary manufactures, universal fall in the value of lands & their produce, contempt of public & private faith, loss of consideration & credit with foreign nations, & at length in discontents, animosities, combinations, partial conventions, & insurrection, threatening some great national calamity. In this dangerous crisis the people of America were not abandoned by their usual good sense, presence of mind, resolution, or integrity. Measures were pursued to concert a plan to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, & secure the blessings of liberty. The public disquisitions, discussions, & deliberations issued in the present happy Constitution of government. Employed in the service of my country abroad during the whole course of these transactions, I 1st saw the Constitution of the United States in a foreign country. Irritated by no literary altercation, animated by no public debate, heated by no party animosity, I read it with great satisfaction, as the result of good heads prompted by good hearts, as an experiment better adapted to the genius, character, situation, & relations of this nation & country than any which had ever been proposed or suggested. In its general principles & great outlines it was conformable to such a system of government as I had every most esteemed, & in states, my own native state in particular, had contributed to establish. Claiming a right of suffrage, in common with my fellow citizens, in the adoption or rejection of a constitution which was to rule me & my posterity, as well as them & their, I did not hesitate to express my approbation of it on all occasions, in public & in private. It was not then, nor has been since, any objection to it in my mind that the executive & Senate were not more permanent. Nor have I ever entertained a thought of promoting any alteration in it but such as the people themselves, in the course of their experience, should see & feel to be necessary or expedient, & by their representatives in Congress & the state legislatures, according to the Constitution itself, adopt & ordain. Returning to the bosom of my country after a painful separation from it for 10 years, I had the honor to be elected to a station under tha new order of things, & I have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious obligations to support the Constitution. The operation of it has equaled the most sanguine expectations of its friends, & from an habitual attention to it, satisfaction in its administration, & delight in its effects upon the peace, order, prosperity, & happiness of the nation I have acquired an habitual attachment to it & veneration for it. What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem & love? There may be little solidity in an ancient idea that congregations of men into cities 7 nations are the most pleasing objects in the sight of superior intelligences, but this is very certain, that to a benevolent human mind there can be no spectacle presented by any nation more pleasing, more noble, majest, or august, than an assembly like that which has so often been seen in this & the other chamber of Congress, of a government in which the executive authority, as well as that of all the branches of the legislature, are exercised by citizens selected at regular periods by their neighbors to make & execute laws for the general good. Can anything essential, anything more than mere ornament & decoration, be added to this by robes & diamonds? Can authority be more amiable & respectable when it descends from accidents or institutions established in remote antiquity than when it springs fresh from the hearts 7 judgments of an honest & enlightened people? For it is the people only that are represented. It is their power & majesty that is reflected, & only for their good, in every legitimate government, under whatever form it may appear. The existence of such a government as ours for any length of time is a full proof of a general dissemination of knowledge & virtue throughout the whole body of the people. And what object or consideration more pleasing than this can be presented to the human mind? If national pride is ever justifiable or excusable it is when it springs, not from power or riches, grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national innocence, information, & benevolence. In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, & independent elections. If an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, & that can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the government may be the choice of a party for its own ends not of the nation for the national good. If that solitary suffrage can be obtained by foreign nations by flattery or menace, by fraud or violence, by terror, intrigue, or venality, the government may not be the choice of the American people, but of foreign nations. It may be foreign nations who govern us, & not we, the people, who govern ourselves; & candid men will acknowledge that in such cases choice would have little advantage to boast of over lot or chance. Such is the amiable & interesting system of government (& such are some of the abuses to which it may be exposed) which the people of America have exhibited to the admiration & anxiety of the wise & virtuous of all nations for 8 years under the administration of a citizen who, by a long course of great actions, regulated by prudence, justice, temperance, & fortitude, conducting a people inspired with the same virtues & animated with the same ardent patriotism & love of liberty to independence & peace, to increasing wealth & unexampled prosperity, has merited the gratitude of his fellow citizens, commanded the highest praises of foreign nations, & secured immortal glory with posterity. In that retirement which is his voluntary choice may he long live to enjoy the delicious recollection of his services, the gratitude of mankind, the happy fruits of them to himself & the world, which are daily increasing, & that splendid prospect of the future fortunes of this country which is opening from year to year. His name may be still a rampart, & the knowledge that he lives a bulwark, against all open or secret enemies of his countryÕs peace. This example has been recommended to the imitation of his successors by both Houses of Congress & by the voice of the legislatures & the people throughout the nation. On this subject it might become me better to be silent or to speak with diffidence; but as something may be expected, the occasion, I hope, will be admitted as an apology if I venture to say that ¥ if a preference, upon principle, of a free republican government, formed upon long & serious reflection, after a diligent & impartial inquiry after truth; ¥ if an attachment to the Constitution of the United States, & a conscientious determination to support it until it shall be altered by the judgments & wishes of the people, expressed in the mode prescribed in it; ¥ if a respectful attention to the constitutions of the individual states & a constant caution & delicacy toward the state governments; ¥ if an equal & impartial regard to the rights, interest, honor, & happiness of all the states in the Union, without preference or regard to a northern or southern, an eastern or western, position, their various political opinions on inessential points or their personal attachments; ¥ if a love of virtuous men of all parties & denominations; ¥ if a love of science & letters & a wish to patronize every rational effort to encourage schools, colleges, universities, academies, & every institution for propagating knowledge, virtue, & religion among all classes of the people, not only for their benign influence on the happiness of life in all its stages & classes, & of society in all its forms, but as the only means for preserving our Constitution from its natural enemies, the spirit of sophistry, the spirit of party, the spirit of intrigue, the profligacy of corruption, & the pestilence of foreign influence, which is the angel of destruction to elective governments; ¥ if a love of equal laws, of justice, & humanity in the interior administration; ¥ if an inclination to improve agriculture, commerce, & manufactures for necesity, convenience, & defense; ¥ if a spirit of equity & humanity toward the aboriginal nations of America, & a disposition to meliorate their condition by inclining them to be more friendly to us, & our citizens to be more friendly to them; ¥ if an inflexible determination to maintain peace & inviolable faith with all nations, & that system of neutrality & impartiality among the belligerent powers of Europe which has been adopted by this government & so solemnly sanctioned by both Houses of Congress & applauded by the legislatures of the states & the public opinion, until it shall be otherwise ordained by Congress; ¥ if a personal esteen for the French nation, formed in a residence of 7 years chiefly among them, & a sincere desire to preserve the friendship which has been so much for the honor & interest of both nations; ¥ if, while the conscious honor & integrity of the people of America & the internal sentiment of their own power & energies must be preserved, & earnest endeavor to investigate every just cause & remove every colorable pretense of complaint; ¥ if an intention to pursue by amicable negotiation a reparation for the injuries that have been committed on the commerce of our fellow citizens by whatever nation, & if success can not be obtained, to lay the facts before the legislature, that they may consider what further measures the honor & interest of the government & its constituents demand; ¥ if a resolution to do justice as far as may depend upon me, at all times & to all nations, & maintain peace, friendship, & benevolence with all the world; ¥ if an unshaken confidence in the honor, spirit, & resources of the American people, on which I have so often hazarded my all & never been deceived; ¥ if elevated ideas of the high destinies of this country & of my own duties toward it, founded on a knowledge of the moral principles & intellectual improvements of the people deeply engraven on my mind in early life, & not obscured by exalted experience & age; and, ¥ with humble reverence, I feel it to be my duty to add, if a veneration for the religion of a people who profess & call themselves Christians, & a fixed resolution to consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for the public service, can enable me in any degre to comply with your wishes, it shall be my strenuous endeavor that this sagacious injunction of the 2 Houses, shall not be without effect. With this great example before me, with the sense & spirit, the faith & honor, the duty & interest, of the same American people pledged to support the Constitution of the United States, I entertain no doubt of its continuance in all its energy, & my mind is prepared without hesitation to lay myself under the most solemn obligations to support it to the utmost of my power. And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice, & the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation & its government & give it all possible success & duration consistent with the ends of His providence.