US Presidency
1885

But he who takes the oath today to preserve, protect, and defend theConstitution of the United States only assumes the solemn obligation whichevery patriotic citizen on the farm, in the workshop, in the busy martsof trade, and everywhere -should share with him. The Constitution whichprescribes his oath, my countrymen, is yours; the Government you have chosenhim to administer for a time is yours; the suffrage which executes thewill of freemen is yours; the laws and the entire scheme of our civil rule, from the town meeting to the State capitals and the national capital, isyours. Your every voter, as surely as your Chief Magistrate, under thesame high sanction, though in a different sphere, exercises a public trust. Nor is this all. Every citizen owes to the country a vigilant watch andclose scrutiny of its public servants and a fair and reasonable estimateof their fidelity and usefulness. Thus is the people's will impressed uponthe whole framework of our civil polity municipal, State, and Federal; and this is the price of our liberty and the inspiration of our faith inthe Republic.