James Knox Polk
Inaugural Address
Tuesday, March 4, 1845
Fellow-Citizens:
WITHOUT solicitation on my part, I have been chosen by the free and
voluntary suffrages of my countrymen to the most honorable and most
responsible office on earth. I am deeply impressed with gratitude for
the confidence reposed in me. Honored with this distinguished
consideration at an earlier period of life than any of my predecessors,
I can not disguise the diffidence with which I am about to enter on the
discharge of my official duties.
If the more aged and experienced men who have filled the office of
President of the United States even in the infancy of the Republic
distrusted their ability to discharge the duties of that exalted
station, what ought not to be the apprehensions of one so much younger
and less endowed now that our domain extends from ocean to ocean, that
our people have so greatly increased in numbers, and at a time when so
great diversity of opinion prevails in regard to the principles and
policy which should characterize the administration of our Government?
Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring
responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and
prosperity, and in some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole
human family.
In assuming responsibilities so vast I fervently invoke the aid of that
Almighty Ruler of the Universe in whose hands are the destinies of
nations and of men to guard this Heaven-favored land against the
mischiefs which without His guidance might arise from an unwise public
policy. With a firm reliance upon the wisdom of Omnipotence to sustain
and direct me in the path of duty which I am appointed to pursue, I
stand in the presence of this assembled multitude of my countrymen to
take upon myself the solemn obligation "to the best of my ability to
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
A concise enumeration of the principles which will guide me in the
administrative policy of the Government is not only in accordance with
the examples set me by all my predecessors, but is eminently befitting
the occasion.
The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our
federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding
together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing
family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I
shall be directed.
It will be my first care to administer the Government in the true
spirit of that instrument, and to assume no powers not expressly
granted or clearly implied in its terms. The Government of the United
States is one of delegated and limited powers, and it is by a strict
adherence to the clearly granted powers and by abstaining from the
exercise of doubtful or unauthorized implied powers that we have the
only sure guaranty against the recurrence of those unfortunate
collisions between the Federal and State authorities which have
occasionally so much disturbed the harmony of our system and even
threatened the perpetuity of our glorious Union.
"To the States, respectively, or to the people" have been reserved "the
powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor
prohibited by it to the States." Each State is a complete sovereignty
within the sphere of its reserved powers. The Government of the Union,
acting within the sphere of its delegated authority, is also a complete
sovereignty. While the General Government should abstain from the
exercise of authority not clearly delegated to it, the States should be
equally careful that in the maintenance of their rights they do not
overstep the limits of powers reserved to them. One of the most
distinguished of my predecessors attached deserved importance to "the
support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most
competent administration for our domestic concerns and the surest
bulwark against antirepublican tendencies," and to the "preservation of
the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet
anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad."
To the Government of the United States has been intrusted the exclusive
management of our foreign affairs. Beyond that it wields a few general
enumerated powers. It does not force reform on the States. It leaves
individuals, over whom it casts its protecting influence, entirely free
to improve their own condition by the legitimate exercise of all their
mental and physical powers. It is a common protector of each and all
the States; of every man who lives upon our soil, whether of native or
foreign birth; of every religious sect, in their worship of the
Almighty according to the dictates of their own conscience; of every
shade of opinion, and the most free inquiry; of every art, trade, and
occupation consistent with the laws of the States. And we rejoice in
the general happiness, prosperity, and advancement of our country,
which have been the offspring of freedom, and not of power.
This most admirable and wisest system of well-regulated self-government
among men ever devised by human minds has been tested by its successful
operation for more than half a century, and if preserved from the
usurpations of the Federal Government on the one hand and the exercise
by the States of powers not reserved to them on the other, will, I
fervently hope and believe, endure for ages to come and dispense the
blessings of civil and religious liberty to distant generations. To
effect objects so dear to every patriot I shall devote myself with
anxious solicitude. It will be my desire to guard against that most
fruitful source of danger to the harmonious action of our system which
consists in substituting the mere discretion and caprice of the
Executive or of majorities in the legislative department of the
Government for powers which have been withheld from the Federal
Government by the Constitution. By the theory of our Government
majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one.
It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and
in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to
restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon
their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the
Constitution as a shield against such oppression.
That the blessings of liberty which our Constitution secures may be
enjoyed alike by minorities and majorities, the Executive has been
wisely invested with a qualified veto upon the acts of the Legislature.
It is a negative power, and is conservative in its character. It
arrests for the time hasty, inconsiderate, or unconstitutional
legislation, invites reconsideration, and transfers questions at issue
between the legislative and executive departments to the tribunal of
the people. Like all other powers, it is subject to be abused. When
judiciously and properly exercised, the Constitution itself may be
saved from infraction and the rights of all preserved and protected.
The inestimable value of our Federal Union is felt and acknowledged by
all. By this system of united and confederated States our people are
permitted collectively and individually to seek their own happiness in
their own way, and the consequences have been most auspicious. Since
the Union was formed the number of the States has increased from
thirteen to twenty-eight; two of these have taken their position as
members of the Confederacy within the last week. Our population has
increased from three to twenty millions. New communities and States are
seeking protection under its aegis, and multitudes from the Old World
are flocking to our shores to participate in its blessings. Beneath its
benign sway peace and prosperity prevail. Freed from the burdens and
miseries of war, our trade and intercourse have extended throughout the
world. Mind, no longer tasked in devising means to accomplish or resist
schemes of ambition, usurpation, or conquest, is devoting itself to
man's true interests in developing his faculties and powers and the
capacity of nature to minister to his enjoyments. Genius is free to
announce its inventions and discoveries, and the hand is free to
accomplish whatever the head conceives not incompatible with the rights
of a fellow-being. All distinctions of birth or of rank have been
abolished. All citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon
terms of precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal
protection. No union exists between church and state, and perfect
freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds.
These are some of the blessings secured to our happy land by our
Federal Union. To perpetuate them it is our sacred duty to preserve it.
Who shall assign limits to the achievements of free minds and free
hands under the protection of this glorious Union? No treason to
mankind since the organization of society would be equal in atrocity to
that of him who would lift his hand to destroy it. He would overthrow
the noblest structure of human wisdom, which protects himself and his
fellow-man. He would stop the progress of free government and involve
his country either in anarchy or despotism. He would extinguish the
fire of liberty, which warms and animates the hearts of happy millions
and invites all the nations of the earth to imitate our example. If he
say that error and wrong are committed in the administration of the
Government, let him remember that nothing human can be perfect, and
that under no other system of government revealed by Heaven or devised
by man has reason been allowed so free and broad a scope to combat
error. Has the sword of despots proved to be a safer or surer
instrument of reform in government than enlightened reason? Does he
expect to find among the ruins of this Union a happier abode for our
swarming millions than they now have under it? Every lover of his
country must shudder at the thought of the possibility of its
dissolution, and will be ready to adopt the patriotic sentiment, "Our
Federal Union - it must be preserved." To preserve it the compromises
which alone enabled our fathers to form a common constitution for the
government and protection of so many States and distinct communities,
of such diversified habits, interests, and domestic institutions, must
be sacredly and religiously observed. Any attempt to disturb or destroy
these compromises, being terms of the compact of union, can lead to
none other than the most ruinous and disastrous consequences.
It is a source of deep regret that in some sections of our country
misguided persons have occasionally indulged in schemes and agitations
whose object is the destruction of domestic institutions existing in
other sections - institutions which existed at the adoption of the
Constitution and were recognized and protected by it. All must see that
if it were possible for them to be successful in attaining their object
the dissolution of the Union and the consequent destruction of our
happy form of government must speedily follow.
I am happy to believe that at every period of our existence as a nation
there has existed, and continues to exist, among the great mass of our
people a devotion to the Union of the States which will shield and
protect it against the moral treason of any who would seriously
contemplate its destruction. To secure a continuance of that devotion
the compromises of the Constitution must not only be preserved, but
sectional jealousies and heartburnings must be discountenanced, and all
should remember that they are members of the same political family,
having a common destiny. To increase the attachment of our people to
the Union, our laws should be just. Any policy which shall tend to
favor monopolies or the peculiar interests of sections or classes must
operate to the prejudice of the interest of their fellow-citizens, and
should be avoided. If the compromises of the Constitution be preserved,
if sectional jealousies and heartburnings be discountenanced, if our
laws be just and the Government be practically administered strictly
within the limits of power prescribed to it, we may discard all
apprehensions for the safety of the Union.
With these views of the nature, character, and objects of the
Government and the value of the Union, I shall steadily oppose the
creation of those institutions and systems which in their nature tend
to pervert it from its legitimate purposes and make it the instrument
of sections, classes, and individuals. We need no national banks or
other extraneous institutions planted around the Government to control
or strengthen it in opposition to the will of its authors. Experience
has taught us how unnecessary they are as auxiliaries of the public
authorities - how impotent for good and how powerful for mischief.
Ours was intended to be a plain and frugal government, and I shall
regard it to be my duty to recommend to Congress and, as far as the
Executive is concerned, to enforce by all the means within my power the
strictest economy in the expenditure of the public money which may be
compatible with the public interests.
A national debt has become almost an institution of European
monarchies. It is viewed in some of them as an essential prop to
existing governments. Melancholy is the condition of that people whose
government can be sustained only by a system which periodically
transfers large amounts from the labor of the many to the coffers of
the few. Such a system is incompatible with the ends for which our
republican Government was instituted. Under a wise policy the debts
contracted in our Revolution and during the War of 1812 have been
happily extinguished. By a judicious application of the revenues not
required for other necessary purposes, it is not doubted that the debt
which has grown out of the circumstances of the last few years may be
speedily paid off.
I congratulate my fellow-citizens on the entire restoration of the
credit of the General Government of the Union and that of many of the
States. Happy would it be for the indebted States if they were freed
from their liabilities, many of which were incautiously contracted.
Although the Government of the Union is neither in a legal nor a moral
sense bound for the debts of the States, and it would be a violation of
our compact of union to assume them, yet we can not but feel a deep
interest in seeing all the States meet their public liabilities and pay
off their just debts at the earliest practicable period. That they will
do so as soon as it can be done without imposing too heavy burdens on
their citizens there is no reason to doubt. The sound moral and
honorable feeling of the people of the indebted States can not be
questioned, and we are happy to perceive a settled disposition on their
part, as their ability returns after a season of unexampled pecuniary
embarrassment, to pay off all just demands and to acquiesce in any
reasonable measures to accomplish that object.
One of the difficulties which we have had to encounter in the practical
administration of the Government consists in the adjustment of our
revenue laws and the levy of the taxes necessary for the support of
Government. In the general proposition that no more money shall be
collected than the necessities of an economical administration shall
require all parties seem to acquiesce. Nor does there seem to be any
material difference of opinion as to the absence of right in the
Government to tax one section of country, or one class of citizens, or
one occupation, for the mere profit of another. "Justice and sound
policy forbid the Federal Government to foster one branch of industry
to the detriment of another, or to cherish the interests of one portion
to the injury of another portion of our common country." I have
heretofore declared to my fellow-citizens that "in my judgment it is
the duty of the Government to extend, as far as it may be practicable
to do so, by its revenue laws and all other means within its power,
fair and just protection to all of the great interests of the whole
Union, embracing agriculture, manufactures, the mechanic arts,
commerce, and navigation." I have also declared my opinion to be "in
favor of a tariff for revenue," and that "in adjusting the details of
such a tariff I have sanctioned such moderate discriminating duties as
would produce the amount of revenue needed and at the same time afford
reasonable incidental protection to our home industry," and that I was
"opposed to a tariff for protection merely, and not for revenue."
The power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises" was
an indispensable one to be conferred on the Federal Government, which
without it would possess no means of providing for its own support. In
executing this power by levying a tariff of duties for the support of
Government, the raising of revenue should be the object and protection
the incident. To reverse this principle and make protection the object
and revenue the incident would be to inflict manifest injustice upon
all other than the protected interests. In levying duties for revenue
it is doubtless proper to make such discriminations within the revenue
principle as will afford incidental protection to our home interests.
Within the revenue limit there is a discretion to discriminate; beyond
that limit the rightful exercise of the power is not conceded. The
incidental protection afforded to our home interests by discriminations
within the revenue range it is believed will be ample. In making
discriminations all our home interests should as far as practicable be
equally protected. The largest portion of our people are
agriculturists. Others are employed in manufactures, commerce,
navigation, and the mechanic arts. They are all engaged in their
respective pursuits and their joint labors constitute the national or
home industry. To tax one branch of this home industry for the benefit
of another would be unjust. No one of these interests can rightfully
claim an advantage over the others, or to be enriched by impoverishing
the others. All are equally entitled to the fostering care and
protection of the Government. In exercising a sound discretion in
levying discriminating duties within the limit prescribed, care should
be taken that it be done in a manner not to benefit the wealthy few at
the expense of the toiling millions by taxing lowest the luxuries of
life, or articles of superior quality and high price, which can only be
consumed by the wealthy, and highest the necessaries of life, or
articles of coarse quality and low price, which the poor and great mass
of our people must consume. The burdens of government should as far as
practicable be distributed justly and equally among all classes of our
population. These general views, long entertained on this subject, I
have deemed it proper to reiterate. It is a subject upon which
conflicting interests of sections and occupations are supposed to
exist, and a spirit of mutual concession and compromise in adjusting
its details should be cherished by every part of our widespread country
as the only means of preserving harmony and a cheerful acquiescence of
all in the operation of our revenue laws. Our patriotic citizens in
every part of the Union will readily submit to the payment of such
taxes as shall be needed for the support of their Government, whether
in peace or in war, if they are so levied as to distribute the burdens
as equally as possible among them.
The Republic of Texas has made known her desire to come into our Union,
to form a part of our Confederacy and enjoy with us the blessings of
liberty secured and guaranteed by our Constitution. Texas was once a
part of our country - was unwisely ceded away to a foreign power - is
now independent, and possesses an undoubted right to dispose of a part
or the whole of her territory and to merge her sovereignty as a
separate and independent state in ours. I congratulate my country that
by an act of the late Congress of the United States the assent of this
Government has been given to the reunion, and it only remains for the
two countries to agree upon the terms to consummate an object so
important to both.
I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclusively to the
United States and Texas. They are independent powers competent to
contract, and foreign nations have no right to interfere with them or
to take exceptions to their reunion. Foreign powers do not seem to
appreciate the true character of our Government. Our Union is a
confederation of independent States, whose policy is peace with each
other and all the world. To enlarge its limits is to extend the
dominions of peace over additional territories and increasing millions.
The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government.
While the Chief Magistrate and the popular branch of Congress are
elected for short terms by the suffrages of those millions who must in
their own persons bear all the burdens and miseries of war, our
Government can not be otherwise than pacific. Foreign powers should
therefore look on the annexation of Texas to the United States not as
the conquest of a nation seeking to extend her dominions by arms and
violence, but as the peaceful acquisition of a territory once her own,
by adding another member to our confederation, with the consent of that
member, thereby diminishing the chances of war and opening to them new
and ever-increasing markets for their products.
To Texas the reunion is important, because the strong protecting arm of
our Government would be extended over her, and the vast resources of
her fertile soil and genial climate would be speedily developed, while
the safety of New Orleans and of our whole southwestern frontier
against hostile aggression, as well as the interests of the whole
Union, would be promoted by it.
In the earlier stages of our national existence the opinion prevailed
with some that our system of confederated States could not operate
successfully over an extended territory, and serious objections have at
different times been made to the enlargement of our boundaries. These
objections were earnestly urged when we acquired Louisiana. Experience
has shown that they were not well founded. The title of numerous Indian
tribes to vast tracts of country has been extinguished; new States have
been admitted into the Union; new Territories have been created and our
jurisdiction and laws extended over them. As our population has
expanded, the Union has been cemented and strengthened. As our
boundaries have been enlarged and our agricultural population has been
spread over a large surface, our federative system has acquired
additional strength and security. It may well be doubted whether it
would not be in greater danger of overthrow if our present population
were confined to the comparatively narrow limits of the original
thirteen States than it is now that they are sparsely settled over a
more expanded territory. It is confidently believed that our system may
be safely extended to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits, and
that as it shall be extended the bonds of our Union, so far from being
weakened, will become stronger.
None can fail to see the danger to our safety and future peace if Texas
remains an independent state or becomes an ally or dependency of some
foreign nation more powerful than herself. Is there one among our
citizens who would not prefer perpetual peace with Texas to occasional
wars, which so often occur between bordering independent nations? Is
there one who would not prefer free intercourse with her to high duties
on all our products and manufactures which enter her ports or cross her
frontiers? Is there one who would not prefer an unrestricted
communication with her citizens to the frontier obstructions which must
occur if she remains out of the Union? Whatever is good or evil in the
local institutions of Texas will remain her own whether annexed to the
United States or not. None of the present States will be responsible
for them any more than they are for the local institutions of each
other. They have confederated together for certain specified objects.
Upon the same principle that they would refuse to form a perpetual
union with Texas because of her local institutions our forefathers
would have been prevented from forming our present Union. Perceiving no
valid objection to the measure and many reasons for its adoption
vitally affecting the peace, the safety, and the prosperity of both
countries, I shall on the broad principle which formed the basis and
produced the adoption of our Constitution, and not in any narrow spirit
of sectional policy, endeavor by all constitutional, honorable, and
appropriate means to consummate the expressed will of the people and
Government of the United States by the reannexation of Texas to our
Union at the earliest practicable period.
Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to assert and maintain by
all constitutional means the right of the United States to that portion
of our territory which lies beyond the Rocky Mountains. Our title to
the country of the Oregon is "clear and unquestionable," and already
are our people preparing to perfect that title by occupying it with
their wives and children. But eighty years ago our population was
confined on the west by the ridge of the Alleghanies. Within that
period - within the lifetime, I might say, of some of my hearers - our
people, increasing to many millions, have filled the eastern valley of
the Mississippi, adventurously ascended the Missouri to its
headsprings, and are already engaged in establishing the blessings of
self-government in valleys of which the rivers flow to the Pacific. The
world beholds the peaceful triumphs of the industry of our emigrants.
To us belongs the duty of protecting them adequately wherever they may
be upon our soil. The jurisdiction of our laws and the benefits of our
republican institutions should be extended over them in the distant
regions which they have selected for their homes. The increasing
facilities of intercourse will easily bring the States, of which the
formation in that part of our territory can not be long delayed, within
the sphere of our federative Union. In the meantime every obligation
imposed by treaty or conventional stipulations should be sacredly
respected.
In the management of our foreign relations it will be my aim to observe
a careful respect for the rights of other nations, while our own will
be the subject of constant watchfulness. Equal and exact justice should
characterize all our intercourse with foreign countries. All alliances
having a tendency to jeopard the welfare and honor of our country or
sacrifice any one of the national interests will be studiously avoided,
and yet no opportunity will be lost to cultivate a favorable
understanding with foreign governments by which our navigation and
commerce may be extended and the ample products of our fertile soil, as
well as the manufactures of our skillful artisans, find a ready market
and remunerating prices in foreign countries.
In taking "care that the laws be faithfully executed," a strict
performance of duty will be exacted from all public officers. From
those officers, especially, who are charged with the collection and
disbursement of the public revenue will prompt and rigid accountability
be required. Any culpable failure or delay on their part to account for
the moneys intrusted to them at the times and in the manner required by
law will in every instance terminate the official connection of such
defaulting officer with the Government.
Although in our country the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity
be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures,
yet in his official action he should not be the President of a part
only, but of the whole people of the United States. While he executes
the laws with an impartial hand, shrinks from no proper responsibility,
and faithfully carries out in the executive department of the
Government the principles and policy of those who have chosen him, he
should not be unmindful that our fellow-citizens who have differed with
him in opinion are entitled to the full and free exercise of their
opinions and judgments, and that the rights of all are entitled to
respect and regard.
Confidently relying upon the aid and assistance of the coordinate
departments of the Government in conducting our public affairs, I enter
upon the discharge of the high duties which have been assigned me by
the people, again humbly supplicating that Divine Being who has watched
over and protected our beloved country from its infancy to the present
hour to continue His gracious benedictions upon us, that we may
continue to be a prosperous and happy people.
