US Presidency
1913

They found men deliberating here who had none of the appearance of novices, none of the hesitation of men who did not know whether the work they were doing was going to last or not; men who addressed themselves to a problem of construction as familiarly as we attempt to carry out the traditions of a Government established these 137 years. I feel to-day the compulsion of these men, the compulsion of examples which were set up in this place. And of what do their examples remind us? They remind us not merely of public service but of public service shot through with principle and honor. They were not histrionic men. They did not say? Look upon us as upon those who shall hereafter be illustrious. They said: Look upon us who are doing the first free work of constitutional liberty in the world, and who must do it in soberness and truth, or it will not last. Politics, ladies and gentlemen, is made up in just about equal parts of comprehension and sympathy.