US Presidency
1889

Fellow Citizens: There is no constitutional or legal requirement that the President shalltake the oath of office in the presence of the people, but there is somanifest an appropriateness in the public induction to office of the chiefexecutive officer of the nation that from the beginning of the Governmentthe people, to whose service the official oath consecrates the officer, have been called to witness the solemn ceremonial. The oath taken in thepresence of the people becomes a mutual covenant. The officer covenantsto serve the whole body of the people by a faithful execution of the laws, so that they may be the unfailing defense and security of those who respectand observe them, and that neither wealth, station, nor the power of combinationsshall be able to evade their just penalties or to wrest them from a beneficentpublic purpose to serve the ends of cruelty or selfishness. My promise is spoken; yours unspoken, but not the less real and solemn. The people of every State have here their representatives.