Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1885-03-10
President cleyeIand's fnaugu-
raj Address.

IrylGu uIu aOOuG 10 4Suppl6LuSuG
and seal by the oath which 1 shall
take the manifestation of the will of
great and free people. In the ex-
ercise of their power and right of
self-government they have committed
to one of their feIIow-citizens SUI
preme and sacred trust; and he here
consecrates himself to their service.
This impressive ceremony adds
little to the solemn sense of respon-
sibility with which / contemplate the
duty 1 owe to all the people of the
land; nothing can relieve me from
anxiety lest by an act of mine their
interests may suffer, and nothing is
needed to strengthen my resolution
to engage every faculty and effort in
the promotion of their welfare.
Amid the din of party strife the
peoples choice was made; but its
attendant circumstances have demon
strated anew the strength and safety
of government by the people. In
each succeeding year it more clearly
appears that our Democratic princi-
pies needs no apology, and that in
its fearless and faithful application
is to be found the surest guaranty of
good government.
But the best results in the opera
ton of government, wherein every
citizen has share, largely depend
upon proper limitation of purely
partisan zeal and effort, and correct
appreciation of the time when the
heart of the partisan should be merged
in the patriotism of the citizen.
To-day the Executive branch of
the Government is transferred to new
keeping. But this is still the Gov
eminent of all the people, and it
should be none the less an object of
their affectionate solicitude. At this
hour the animosities of political strife,
the bitterness of partisan defeat and
the exultation of partisan triumph,
should be supplanted by an ungrudg-
ing acquicscence in the popular will,
and sober, conscientious concern
for the general veal. Moreover, if,
from this hour we cheerfully and hon
estly abandon all sectional prejudice
and distrust, and determine, with
manly confidence in one another, TO
work out tremendously the achieve
ments of our national destiny, we
shall deserve to realize all the bene-
fits which our happy form of govern
ment can bestow.
On this suspicious occasion we may
well renew the pledge of our devo-
ton to the Constitution, which,
launched by the founders of the Re-
public, and consecrated by their
prayers and patriotic devotion, has
for almost century borne the hopes
and the aspirations of great people
through prosperity and peace, and
through the shock of foreign conflicts
and the perils of domestic strife and
vicissitudes.
By the Father of his Country our
Constitution was commended for
adoption as {" the result of spirit of
amity and mutual concession" In
that same spirit it should be admins
tered, in order to promote the lasting
welfare of the country, and to secure
the full measure of its priceless bene-
fits to us and to those who will sue
coed to the blessing of our national
life. The large variety of diverse
and competing interests subject to
Federal control, persistently seeking
the recognition CT their claims, need
give US that greatest good to the
greatest number" will fail to be ac-
complished if, in the halls of national
Legislation, that spirit of amity and
mutual concession shall prevail in
which the Constitution had its birth.
If this involves the surrender or post
ponement of private interests and the
abandonment of local advantages,
compensation will be found in the as
surance that thus the common interest
is subserved and the general welfare
advanced.
In the discharge of my official duty
shall endeavor to be guided by a
just and unstrained construction of
the Constitution, a careful observance
of the distinction between the powers
granted to the Federal Government
and those reserved to the State or to
the people, and by cautious appre-
citation of those functions which by
the Constitution and laws, have been
especially assigned to the Executive
branch of the Government.
But he who takes the oath to-day to
preserve, protect and defend the Con-
stitution of the United States only as
sumes the solemn obligation which
every patriotic citizen, on the farm,
in the workshop, in the busy marts
of trade and everywhere, should share
with him. The Constitution which
prescribes his oath, my countrymen,
is yours; the Government you have
chosen him to administer for time
is yours; the suffrage which executes
the will 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 Cap
ital, is yours. Your every voter, as
surely as your Chief Magistrate, un-
der the same high sanction, though in
a different sphere, exercises public
trust. Nor is this all. Every citizen
owes to the country a vigilant watch
and close scrutiny of its public SER
wants, and fair and reasonable es-
innate of their fidelity and usefulness.
Thus is the peoples will impressed
upon the whole framework of our
civil polity-municipal, State and