Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1861-03-08
Inaugural Address.
suo,c Citizens of the United States :

Inaugural Address.
FeHoar Citizens of the United States:
In compliance with custom as old as the
Government itself, [ appear before you to ad.
dress you briefly, and to take in your pres ence
the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the
United States, to be taken by the President be-
lore he enters upon the execution of the du-
tics of his office. do not consider it neces.
sary, at present, for me to discuss those M t.
tiers of administration about which there is no
special anxiety or excitement Apprehension
seems toexist among the people of the South
ern States, that by the accession of Republi-
can Administration, their property and their
peace and personal security are to DO endan-
gered, while there has never been any reason
adj cause for such apprehension.
Indeed, the most ample evidence to the con-
trary has all the whe existed, and been open
to their inspection. 1t is found in nearly all
the published speeches of him who now ad-
dresses you | do but quote from one OF those
speeches when declare that l have no pur-
pose directly or indirectly, 10 interfere with
the institution of slavery III The States where
| ii exists.
| believe have no right to do so. and have
no inclination to do so. Those who nominated
aud elected me- did so with The full knowledge
| that had made this and many similar declara
| tious. and had never recalled them, and more
than this, they placed in the Platform for my
! acceptance as law to themselves and to me,
| 4 clear and emphat tic resolution which, | now
! read
| ;Resolred, That the maintenance inviolate of
the rights of the States, and especially the right
| of each State to order and control its own do
| nestle institutions according to itsown judgment
exclusively, is essential to that balance of power
which the perfection and endurance of our
political fabric depends, and we denornce the
lawlpss invasion, by an armed force, of the gov
eminent of any State or Territory. 10 matter
under what pretext, as among the greatest of
crimes"
now reiterate those sentiments, and in do
| ing so | only press upon the public attention,
| the most conclusive evidence of which the case
| is susceptible, that the prosperity, peace and
security of no section, are TO be in anywse
endangered by the now incoming Adminstra-
ton. | aid too that all the protection, which,
| consistently with the Constitution and the laws
can be given, will be cheerfully given to all
the States when lawfully demanded-for what
ever cau.e-as cheerfully to one section as to
another. There is much controversy about the
| delivery of fugitves from service or labor. The
clause now read is as plainly written in the
Constitution as any other of lis provisions:
| mo person held to service or labor, in one
State under the laws thereof, and escaping into
another, shall in consequence of any law or reg
|
or labor, but shall be delivered upon claim of
| the party to wht N such service or labor may be
| due"
| II was intended by those who made it, for
the retaining Of what we call fugitive slaves,
and the intention of the law giver is the law.
| All members of Congress swear their support
to the whole Constitution TO this provision as
much as to any other. To the proposition. then,
| that slaves, whose cases come within the terms
| th al cho1l ba al
their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would
make the effort in good temper, could they not
with nearly equal unanity, frame and pass a
law by means of which to keep good that unan-
imous oath 2 There is some difference of opin-
ion whether this clause should be enforced by
National or State authority but surely that
difference is not very material one.
| If the slave is TO be surrendered, it can be of
| but little consequence to him or to others, by
which authority it is done; and should any one
in any case be content that his oath shall be I'M
kept? again, in any law upon this subject,
ought not all the safeguards of Liberty kown in
civilized and humane Jurisprudence to be intro
duced, so that freeman may not in any case
| be surrendered as slave? And might it not
| be we'll at the same time to provide by law for
the enforcement of that clause of the Constitu-
ton which guarantees that the citizens of each
State shall be entitled to all the privileges and
| immunties of citizens in the several States.
| take the official oath to day with no mental res
eryatlons, and with no purpose to construe the
Constitution or laws by any hypocritical rules;
and while do not choose to specify the par.
tcular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced,
do suggest that it will be much safer for all
both in official and private stations, to conform
to and abide by all those acts which stand I'M
repealed, than to violate any of them. trusting to
find immunity i'll having them held unconstitu-
tional.
1t is seventy two years since the first inaugu :
| ration of President under orr National Consti-
| tuition. During that period, fifteen different and
greatly distinguished citizens have in success
sion administered the Executive branch of the
! the government. They have conducted it
through many Perils, and generally with great
success. Yet, with all this scope of precedent,
now enter upon the same task for the brief
constitutional term Of four years, under great
and peculiar difficulties. Disruption of the
| Federal Union, heretofore menaced, is now for
midably attempted. | hold that, in comtempla-
| ton of the Universal Law and of the Constltu-
ton, the Union of these States is perpetual.
Peipetuty is implied, if hot expressed, in the
| fundamental law of all National Governments
1t is safe TO assert that no Government proper
ever had provision in its organic law for its own
termination Continue to execute all the eX-
| press provisions of our National Constitution,
and the Union will endure forever, it being i'm
possible to destroy it, except by some action
not provided for in the instrumentitself Again
| if the United States be not a government proper,
| but an association of States in the nature of con
| tract merely can 1t, as a contract, be peaceabty
| unmade by less than all the parties who made
II One party to a contract may violate it
break it, so TO speak; but does it not require all
to lawfully rescnd? Descending from these
general principles, we find the proposition that
in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual
Confirmed by the history of the Union itself,
| the Union is much older than the Constitution
1t was formed, in fact, by the articles of associ
alton in 1774.
1t was matured and continued in the Declara-
ton of Independence of 1776 1t was further
matured, and the faith of all the old thirteen
| States expressly plighted and engaged that it
should be perpetual, by the articles of confeder-
alton in IT'S. and finally in 1887 One of the
declared objects for ordaining and establishing
| the Constitution, was to form a more perfect
Union. BY one or by part only of the States
Withdrawing, if it be lawfully possible, the
Union is less than before the Constitution
having lost the vital element of perpetuty.
1t follows from these views that no State, up
on its own mere notion, can lawfully 90 out Of
| the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that
effect are legally void, and that an act of vio-
leuce within any State or States against the
authority of the United States, are insurrec.
tIonary, or revolutionary, according TO circum-
stances.
l tn 'refore consider that in view of the Con-
stitution and the laws, the Union is unbrokeu.
and to the extent of my ability shall take care,
as the O. Institution expressly enioins on me.
hat the laws of the Union be faithfully exc
| cuted in all the States Doing this deem to
be only n SimDle duty on NV part ,nJ r .b,u