Ulysses S. Grant
First Inaugural Address
Thursday, March 4, 1869
Citizens of the United States:
YOUR suffrages having elected me to the office of President of the
United States, I have, in conformity to the Constitution of our
country, taken the oath of office prescribed therein. I have taken this
oath without mental reservation and with the determination to do to the
best of my ability all that is required of me. The responsibilities of
the position I feel, but accept them without fear. The office has come
to me unsought; I commence its duties untrammeled. I bring to it a
conscious desire and determination to fill it to the best of my ability
to the satisfaction of the people.
On all leading questions agitating the public mind I will always
express my views to Congress and urge them according to my judgment,
and when I think it advisable will exercise the constitutional
privilege of interposing a veto to defeat measures which I oppose; but
all laws will be faithfully executed, whether they meet my approval or
not.
I shall on all subjects have a policy to recommend, but none to enforce
against the will of the people. Laws are to govern all alike - those
opposed as well as those who favor them. I know no method to secure the
repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent
execution.
The country having just emerged from a great rebellion, many questions
will come before it for settlement in the next four years which
preceding Administrations have never had to deal with. In meeting these
it is desirable that they should be approached calmly, without
prejudice, hate, or sectional pride, remembering that the greatest good
to the greatest number is the object to be attained.
This requires security of person, property, and free religious and
political opinion in every part of our common country, without regard
to local prejudice. All laws to secure these ends will receive my best
efforts for their enforcement.
A great debt has been contracted in securing to us and our posterity
the Union. The payment of this, principal and interest, as well as the
return to a specie basis as soon as it can be accomplished without
material detriment to the debtor class or to the country at large, must
be provided for. To protect the national honor, every dollar of
Government indebtedness should be paid in gold, unless otherwise
expressly stipulated in the contract. Let it be understood that no
repudiator of one farthing of our public debt will be trusted in public
place, and it will go far toward strengthening a credit which ought to
be the best in the world, and will ultimately enable us to replace the
debt with bonds bearing less interest than we now pay. To this should
be added a faithful collection of the revenue, a strict accountability
to the Treasury for every dollar collected, and the greatest
practicable retrenchment in expenditure in every department of
Government.
When we compare the paying capacity of the country now, with the ten
States in poverty from the effects of war, but soon to emerge, I trust,
into greater prosperity than ever before, with its paying capacity
twenty-five years ago, and calculate what it probably will be
twenty-five years hence, who can doubt the feasibility of paying every
dollar then with more ease than we now pay for useless luxuries? Why,
it looks as though Providence had bestowed upon us a strong box in the
precious metals locked up in the sterile mountains of the far West, and
which we are now forging the key to unlock, to meet the very
contingency that is now upon us.
Ultimately it may be necessary to insure the facilities to reach these
riches and it may be necessary also that the General Government should
give its aid to secure this access; but that should only be when a
dollar of obligation to pay secures precisely the same sort of dollar
to use now, and not before. Whilst the question of specie payments is
in abeyance the prudent business man is careful about contracting debts
payable in the distant future. The nation should follow the same rule.
A prostrate commerce is to be rebuilt and all industries encouraged.
The young men of the country - those who from their age must be its
rulers twenty-five years hence - have a peculiar interest in
maintaining the national honor. A moment's reflection as to what will
be our commanding influence among the nations of the earth in their
day, if they are only true to themselves, should inspire them with
national pride. All divisions - geographical, political, and religious
- can join in this common sentiment. How the public debt is to be paid
or specie payments resumed is not so important as that a plan should be
adopted and acquiesced in. A united determination to do is worth more
than divided counsels upon the method of doing. Legislation upon this
subject may not be necessary now, or even advisable, but it will be
when the civil law is more fully restored in all parts of the country
and trade resumes its wonted channels.
It will be my endeavor to execute all laws in good faith, to collect
all revenues assessed, and to have them properly accounted for and
economically disbursed. I will to the best of my ability appoint to
office those only who will carry out this design.
In regard to foreign policy, I would deal with nations as equitable law
requires individuals to deal with each other, and I would protect the
law-abiding citizen, whether of native or foreign birth, wherever his
rights are jeopardized or the flag of our country floats. I would
respect the rights of all nations, demanding equal respect for our own.
If others depart from this rule in their dealings with us, we may be
compelled to follow their precedent.
The proper treatment of the original occupants of this land - the
Indians one deserving of careful study. I will favor any course toward
them which tends to their civilization and ultimate citizenship.
The question of suffrage is one which is likely to agitate the public
so long as a portion of the citizens of the nation are excluded from
its privileges in any State. It seems to me very desirable that this
question should be settled now, and I entertain the hope and express
the desire that it may be by the ratification of the fifteenth article
of amendment to the Constitution.
In conclusion I ask patient forbearance one toward another throughout
the land, and a determined effort on the part of every citizen to do
his share toward cementing a happy union; and I ask the prayers of the
nation to Almighty God in behalf of this consummation.
