US Presidency
1847

Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: The annual meeting of Congress is always an interesting event. The representatives of the States and of the people come fresh from their constituents to take counsel together for the common good. After an existence of near three fourths of a century as a free and independent Republic, the problem no longer remains to be solved whether man is capable of self government. The success of our admirable system is a conclusive refutation of the theories of those in other countries who maintain that a favored few are born to rule and that the mass of mankind must be governed by force. Subject to no arbitrary or hereditary authority, the people are the only sovereigns recognized by our Constitution. Numerous emigrants, of every lineage and language, attracted by the civil and religious freedom we enjoy and by our happy condition, annually crowd to our shores, and transfer their heart, not less than their allegiance, to the country whose dominion belongs alone to the people.