Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1857-03-12
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
JAS. BUCHANAN.

FEILow-CTIzENs appear before you this
day to take the solemn oath that | will faith
fully execute the Office of President of the
United States, and will, to the best of my alb
lily, preserve, protect and defend the Consti
tuition of the United States. In entering up
on this great Office, | must humbIy invoke the
God of our fathers for wisdom and frmness to
execute its high and responsible duties in such
manner as to restore harmony and the an
cient friendship among the people of the seve-
raj States, and to preserve our free institutions
throughout many generations. Convinced that
| owe my election to the inherent love of the
Constitution and the Union, which still ami
mates the hearts of the American people, let
me earnestly ask their powerful support in sus-
tanning all just measures calculated to pcrpet-
uate these, the richest political blessings which
Heaven has ever bestowed upon any nation
Having determined not to become a cand-
date for reelection, shall have no motive to
influence my conduct in administering the Gov
ernment except the desire ably and faithfully
TO serve my country and to live in the CRATE
full memory of my countrymen.
| We have recently passed through q Pres-
dental contest in which the passions of our
feow-citizens were excited to the highest de-
gree by questions of deep and vital Importance :;
but when the people proclaimed their will, the
tempest at once subsided, and all was calm-
| The voice of the majority, speaking in the
manner prescribed by the Constitution was
heard, and instant submission followed Our
own country could alone have exhibited so
grand and striking a spectacle of the capacity
of man for self government What happy
conception, then, was it for Congress to apply
this simple rale, that the will of the majority
shall govern to the settlement of the question
of Domestic Slavery in the Territories Con-
gresS is neither to legisate Slavery into any
Territory or State, nor to exclude it there
from but to leave the people thereof perfect
| ly free to form and regulate their domestic in
stitutions in their own way, subject only to
the Constitution of the United States as
natural consequence Congress has also pre-
scribed that when the Territory of Kansas
shall be admitted as State it shall be recei
we'd into the Union with or without Slavery
as their Constitution may prescribe at the time
of their admission. A different opinion has
arisen iii regard to the time when the people
of Territory shall decide this question for
themselves. This is happily a matter of but
little practical Importance, and beside it is a
judicial question, which legitimately belongs
to the Supreme Court of the United States,
| before whom it Is now pending, and WILL it is
understood, be speedily and finally settled
TO their decision, in common with all good
good citizens, | shall cheerfuly submit, what
ever this may be, though it has been my indi-
yidual opinion that under the Nebraska Kan
sas act, the appropriate period will he when
the number of actual residents in the Terrific
ries shall justify the formation of a Constitu-
| tlon with view to its admission rs State in
to the Union. But be this as it may, it is
the imperative and indispensable duty of the
Government Of the United States to secure to
every resident inhabitant the free and indepen-
dent expression of his opinion by his vote
This sacred right of each individual must be
preserved. This being accomplished, nothing
can be fairer than to leave the people of a ter
ritory free from all foreign interference to de-
eide their own destiny for themselves subject
only to the Constitution of the United States
The whole Territorial question being thus set
tied upon the principle of popular sovereignty
"a principle as ancient as free Government
itselt-everything of a practical nature has
been decided, and no other question remains
for adjustment, because that all agree that un-
der the Constitution Slavery in the States is
I
that of the respective States themselves where
in it exists. May we not then hope that the
long agitation on this subject is approaching
its end, and that the geographical parties to
which it has given birth, so much dreaded by
the Father of his Country, will speedily be-
come extinct. Most happy will it be for the
country when the public mind shall be divert
ed from this question to others of more press
ing and practical Importance Throughout
the whole progress of this agitation, which has
scarcely known any intermission for more than
twenty years, while it has been productive of
no positive good to any human being, it has
been the prolific source of great evils to the
master, to the slave and to the whole country
it has aenated and estranged the people of
the sister States, from each other, and has
even seriously endangered the very existence
of the Union. Nor has the danger yet entire
ly ceased. Under our system there is RENE
dy for all mere political evils in the sound
sense and sober Judgment of the people
Time is great corrective. The political sub
iccts which but few years ago exasperated
the public mind have passed away and are now
nearly forgotten but this question of Domes-
tic Slavery is of far greater Importance than
any mere political question, because, should
the agitation continue it may eventually en-
danger the personal safety of large portion
of our countrymen where the institution ex-
ists In that event, no form of Government,
however productive of material benefits, can
compensate for the loss of peace and domestic
security around the family altar. Let every
Unionloving man therefore, exert his best in
fuence to suppress this agitation, which, since
the recent legislation of Congress, is without
any legitimate object. 1t is an evil of the
times that men have undertaken to calculate
the mere material value of the Union.
Reasoned estimates have been presented OF
the pecuniary profits and local advantages