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Background: Frigid temperatures caused many of the
events planned for the second inauguration to be abandoned.
The thermometer did not rise much above zero all day,
persuading many to avoid the ceremony on the East
Portico of the Capitol. The oath of office was administered
by Chief Justice Salmon Chase. A parade and a display
of fireworks were featured later that day, as well
as a ball in a temporary wooden structure on Judiciary
Square. The wind blew continuously through the ballroom
and many of the guests at the ball never removed their
coats. |
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Fellow-Citizens:
UNDER Providence
I have been called a second time to act as Executive
over this great nation. It has been my endeavor
in the past to maintain all the laws, and, so
far as lay in my power, to act for the best
interests of the whole people. My best efforts
will be given in the same direction in the future,
aided, I trust, by my four years' experience
in the office.
When my first term of the office
of Chief Executive began, the country had not
recovered from the effects of a great internal
revolution, and three of the former States of
the Union had not been restored to their Federal
relations.
It seemed to me wise that no
new questions should be raised so long as that
condition of affairs existed. Therefore the
past four years, so far as I could control events,
have been consumed in the effort to restore
harmony, public credit, commerce, and all the
arts of peace and progress. It is my firm conviction
that the civilized world is tending toward republicanism,
or government by the people through their chosen
representatives, and that our own great Republic
is destined to be the guiding star to all others.
Under our Republic we support
an army less than that of any European power
of any standing and a navy less than that of
either of at least five of them. There could
be no extension of territory on the continent
which would call for an increase of this force,
but rather might such extension enable us to
diminish it.
The theory of government changes
with general progress. Now that the telegraph
is made available for communicating thought,
together with rapid transit by steam, all parts
of a continent are made contiguous for all purposes
of government, and communication between the
extreme limits of the country made easier than
it was throughout the old thirteen States at
the beginning of our national existence.
The effects of the late civil
strife have been to free the slave and make
him a citizen. Yet he is not possessed of the
civil rights which citizenship should carry
with it. This is wrong, and should be corrected.
To this correction I stand committed, so far
as Executive influence can avail.
Social equality is not a subject
to be legislated upon, nor shall I ask that
anything be done to advance the social status
of the colored man, except to give him a fair
chance to develop what there is good in him,
give him access to the schools, and when he
travels let him feel assured that his conduct
will regulate the treatment and fare he will
receive.
The States lately at war with
the General Government are now happily rehabilitated,
and no Executive control is exercised in any
one of them that would not be exercised in any
other State under like circumstances.
In the first year of the past
Administration the proposition came up for the
admission of Santo Domingo as a Territory of
the Union. It was not a question of my seeking,
but was a proposition from the people of Santo
Domingo, and which I entertained. I believe
now, as I did then, that it was for the best
interest of this country, for the people of
Santo Domingo, and all concerned that the proposition
should be received favorably. It was, however,
rejected constitutionally, and therefore the
subject was never brought up again by me.
In future, while I hold my present
office, the subject of acquisition of territory
must have the support of the people before I
will recommend any proposition looking to such
acquisition. I say here, however, that I do
not share in the apprehension held by many as
to the danger of governments becoming weakened
and destroyed by reason of their extension of
territory. Commerce, education, and rapid transit
of thought and matter by telegraph and steam
have changed all this. Rather do I believe that
our Great Maker is preparing the world, in His
own good time, to become one nation, speaking
one language, and when armies and navies will
be no longer required.
My efforts in the future will
be directed to the restoration of good feeling
between the different sections of our common
country; to the restoration of our currency
to a fixed value as compared with the world's
standard of valuesgoldand, if possible,
to a par with it; to the construction of cheap
routes of transit throughout the land, to the
end that the products of all may find a market
and leave a living remuneration to the producer;
to the maintenance of friendly relations with
all our neighbors and with distant nations;
to the reestablishment of our commerce and share
in the carrying trade upon the ocean; to the
encouragement of such manufacturing industries
as can be economically pursued in this country,
to the end that the exports of home products
and industries may pay for our importsthe
only sure method of returning to and permanently
maintaining a specie basis; to the elevation
of labor; and, by a humane course, to bring
the aborigines of the country under the benign
influences of education and civilization. It
is either this or war of extermination: Wars
of extermination, engaged in by people pursuing
commerce and all industrial pursuits, are expensive
even against the weakest people, and are demoralizing
and wicked. Our superiority of strength and
advantages of civilization should make us lenient
toward the Indian. The wrong inflicted upon
him should be taken into account and the balance
placed to his credit. The moral view of the
question should be considered and the question
asked, Can not the Indian be made a useful and
productive member of society by proper teaching
and treatment? If the effort is made in good
faith, we will stand better before the civilized
nations of the earth and in our own consciences
for having made it.
All these things are not to be
accomplished by one individual, but they will
receive my support and such recommendations
to Congress as will in my judgment best serve
to carry them into effect. I beg your support
and encouragement.
It has been, and is, my earnest
desire to correct abuses that have grown up
in the civil service of the country. To secure
this reformation rules regulating methods of
appointment and promotions were established
and have been tried. My efforts for such reformation
shall be continued to the best of my judgment.
The spirit of the rules adopted will be maintained.
I acknowledge before this assemblage,
representing, as it does, every section of our
country, the obligation I am under to my countrymen
for the great honor they have conferred on me
by returning me to the highest office within
their gift, and the further obligation resting
on me to render to them the best services within
my power. This I promise, looking forward with
the greatest anxiety to the day when I shall
be released from responsibilities that at times
are almost overwhelming, and from which I have
scarcely had a respite since the eventful firing
upon Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, to the present
day. My services were then tendered and accepted
under the first call for troops growing out
of that event.
I did not ask for place or position,
and was entirely without influence or the acquaintance
of persons of influence, but was resolved to
perform my part in a struggle threatening the
very existence of the nation. I performed a
conscientious duty, without asking promotion
or command, and without a revengeful feeling
toward any section or individual.
Notwithstanding this, throughout
the war, and from my candidacy for my present
office in 1868 to the close of the last Presidential
campaign, I have been the subject of abuse and
slander scarcely ever equaled in political history,
which to-day I feel that I can afford to disregard
in view of your verdict, which I gratefully
accept as my vindication. |
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