Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-03-10
inaugural Address Of Hon. James
"a. A. Garfield.

We yield q large portion Of our space to
the Inaugural Address Of President Gar.
field. The address is an able one and will
bear careful reading. If President Gar
field will practice as efficiently as he writes,
the government will be equal to the wishes
of the most exaoting Of all parties. He
deals with tho exciting question of the day,
to wit: Negro suffrage, freedom of elections,
Mormonism, the currency and tho public
debt, with the clear vision of statesman. /.
He looks to the future with the hope that
sectionalism and tho struggles Of the past
'may be buried in tho busy activities Of the
people, looking to the development of the
country in its manufacturing, agricultural,
commercial and educational interests.
The following is the address:
FELLOW CITIZENS: We stand to day
upon an eminence which overlooks hun
drsd years of national lifc--a century crowded
with perils but crowned with the triumphs
Of liberty and law. Before continuing the
onward march, lot us pause on this height
for moment to strengthen our faith and
renew our hope by glance at the pathway
along which our people have travelled. It
is now three days more than hundred
years since the adoption of tho first written
constitution Of the United Stales-the
articles Of confederation and perpetual uu-
ion. The new republic was then besct
with danger on every hand. it had not
conquered placo in the family of nations.
Tho decisive battle of the war for indepeu-
dence, whose centennial anniversary will
soon be gratefully celebrated at Yorktown,
had not yet been fought The colonists we're
struggling not only against the armies of
great nation but against the settled opinion
Of mankind, for the world did not then be-
Heve that the supreme authority of govern.
ment could be safely entrusted to tho
guardianship of tho people themselves.
We cannot over estimate the fervent love
Of liberty, the intlligence, tho courage and
the saving common sense with which our
fathers made the great experiment of self.
government. When they found, after
short trial, that confedcraoy of States was
too weak to meet the necessities of vigor.
GUS and expanding republic, thon they
boldly set it aside and in its stead estabs
lishod national union founded directly
upon the will of the people, endowed with
full powers of self-preservation. and with
ample authority for the accomplishment of
It's great objects. Under the Constitution
the boundaries of freedom have been en-.
larged, the foundations Of order and peace
have been strengthened and tho growth of
our people in all the better elements of
national life has indicated the wisdom of
the founders and given new hope to their
defendants. Under this Constitution our
people long ago made themselves safe
against danger from without and secured
for the mariners and flag equality of rights
on all the seas. Under this Constitution
twenty five States have been added to the
Union, with constitutions and laws framed
and enforced by their own citizens to secure
the manifold blessings of local self-govern.
ment. The jurisdiction of this Constitu.
tion now covers an area fifty times greater
than that of tho original States and
population twenty times greater than that
of 1880.
A supreme trial of the Constitution
came at last under the tremendous pressure
of civil war. We ourselves are witnesses
that the Union emerged from the flood and
fire of that conflict purified and made
stronger for all tho bencficent purposes of
good government.
And now, at the close Of this first cen.
tury of growth, with the inspirations Of its
history in their hearts, our people have
lately reviewed the condition of the nation,
passed judgment upon the conduct and
opinions of tho political parties, and have
registered their will concerning tho future
administration Of the government. TO
interpret and to execute that will in accord
dance with the Constitution Is the para.
mount duty of the Executive. Even from
this brief review it is manifest that the
nation is rcsolutely facing to the front, re-
solved to employ it's best energies in
developing the great possibilities of the
future, preserving whatever haB been
gained to liberty and good government
during the century. Our people are deter
mined to leave behind them all those
bitter controversies concerning things which
have been irrevocably settled, aud the
further discussion of which can only stir
up strife and delay the onward march.
The supremacy Of the nation and its
laws should be no longer the subject of
debate. That discussion, which for half
century threatened the existence of the
Union, was closed at last in the high court
of war by a deoreo from which shere is no
appeal. That constitution and the laws
made in pursuance thereof are and shall
continue to be the supreme law of tho land,
binding alike upon the. States and people.
This dcoree docs not disturb the authority
Of the States nor intefere with any Of their
necessary rights Of local selfgovernment,
but it does fix and establish the permanent
Of the Union. The will Of the
nation speaking with the voice Of battle