Year: 1862

PRESIDENT JEFFERSON,
Delivered at Special Session ofthe United


States senate, OH Wednesday, the 4th Of


March, 1901.


FRIENDS AND Fellow CIrIzENs:-Ca
upon to undertake the duties of the first
Executive office of our country, | avail my
self of the presence of that portion OF my
fellow citizens which is here assembled, to
express my grateful thanks for the favor
with which they have been pleased to look
towards me; to declare sincere concous
ness that the task is above my talents; and
that approach it with those anxious and
awful presentments which the greatness of
the charge, and the week.-mrs. of my power,
so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread
over wide and fruitful land; traversng all
seas with rich productions of their industry;
engaged in commerce with nations who feel
power and forget right; advancing rapidly to
destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye;
when | contemplate these transcendent OBJ
jects and see the honor, the happiness, and
the hopes Of this beloved country, commit
ted to the issue and the auspcies Of this day,
| shrink from the contempt platon, and hum
bic myself before the magnitude of the un-
deraking. Utterly should despair, did not
the presence of the many whom l here see,
remind me, that in the other high author-
ties provided by our Constitution, shall
find resources of wisdom, of virtue and of
zeal, on which to rely under all difficulties.
To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged
with the sovereign functions of legislation
and to those associated with you, look with
encouragement for that guidance and SUPP
port which may enable us to steer with safe
ty the vessel in which we are all embarked,
amidst the conflicting elements ofa troubled
world.


During the contest of opinion through
which we have passed, The animatian of dis
cussons and of exertions has sometimes
worn an aspect which might impose on
strangers unused to think freely and to
speak and write what they think but this
being now decided by the voice of the nation,
announced according to the rules of the
Constitution, all will arrange themselves, un!
der the will of the law, and unite in common
efforts for common good. All too, will bear
in mind this sacred principle, 'ha, through
the will Of the majority is in all cases to
prevail, tha: will, to be righttu, must be
reasonable; that the minority possess their
equal rights, which equal law must protect,
and to violate it would be oppression. Let
us then fellow citizens, unite with one heart
and one mind-le us restore to social inter
course that harmony and affection, without
which, liberty, and even life itself are but
dreary things. And let us reflect, that, hav
in o banshed from our land that religious
intolerance under which mankind So long
bled and suffered, we have yet gained little,
if we countenance political intolerance, AS
despoiir, as wicked, and capable of wicked
and bloody prosecutions During the throes
and commissions of the ancient world; during
the agonizng spasns Of nfuriated man,
seeking, through blood and slang ter, his
long lost liberty; it was not wonderful that
the agitation of the billows should reach
even this distant and peaceful shore that
this should be more felt and feared by some,
and less by others; and should divide opin
ion as measures Of safety; but every differ
ence Of opinion is not difference of principle.
We have called by different names bretbern
of the same principle We are all Republl'
cans; we are all Federa|ists. If there be any
among us who would wish to dissolve this
Union, or to change its republican form, let
them stand undisturbed as monuments of the
safety with which error of opinion may be
tolerated, where reason is left free to combat
it. | know, indeed, that some honest men
fear that a republican form of government
cannot be strong enough. But would the
honest patriot, in the full tide of successful
experiment, abandon a Government: which
has so far kept us free and firm, on the theol
retic and visionary fear, that this Govern
ment, the worlds best hope, may, by posi-
biity, want energy to preserve Itself! l
trust not. believe this, on the contrary, the
strongest government on earth. | believe it
the only one, where every man, at the call
of the law, would fly to the standard OF the
law, and would meet invasion Of the public
order as his own personal concern. Some
times it is said that man cannot be trusted
with the government of himself Can he
then be trusted with the government OF 9TH
ers! Or have we found angels, in the form
of kings, to govern him9 Let history an.
swer this question.


Let us then with courage and confidence
pursue our own federal aud republican prln-
ciples: our attachment to union and repre-
sentative government. Kindly separated by
nature and wide ocean from the extermna
ting havoc of one quarter of the globe; too
high minded to endure the degredatlons OF
the others; possessing chosen country
with room enough for our descendants OF the
tbausandth and thousandth generation; en-
tertaining due sense of our equal right to the
use of our own faculties. to the acquisitions
of our own industry, to honor and confidence
from our fellow citizens, resulting not from
birth, but from our actious and their sense
of them; enlightened by benign religion,
professed in deeds and practiced in various
forms, yet all Of them intoxicating, honesty,
truth, temperance gratitude. and love OF