James Madison
Second Inaugural Address
Thursday, March 4, 1813
ABOUT to add the solemnity of an oath to the obligations imposed by a
second call to the station in which my country heretofore placed me, I
find in the presence of this respectable assembly an opportunity of
publicly repeating my profound sense of so distinguished a confidence
and of the responsibility united with it. The impressions on me are
strengthened by such an evidence that my faithful endeavors to
discharge my arduous duties have been favorably estimated, and by a
consideration of the momentous period at which the trust has been
renewed. From the weight and magnitude now belonging to it I should be
compelled to shrink if I had less reliance on the support of an
enlightened and generous people, and felt less deeply a conviction that
the war with a powerful nation, which forms so prominent a feature in
our situation, is stamped with that justice which invites the smiles of
Heaven on the means of conducting it to a successful termination.
May we not cherish this sentiment without presumption when we reflect
on the characters by which this war is distinguished?
It was not declared on the part of the United States until it had been
long made on them, in reality though not in name; until arguments and
postulations had been exhausted; until a positive declaration had been
received that the wrongs provoking it would not be discontinued; nor
until this last appeal could no longer be delayed without breaking down
the spirit of the nation, destroying all confidence in itself and in
its political institutions, and either perpetuating a state of
disgraceful suffering or regaining by more costly sacrifices and more
severe struggles our lost rank and respect among independent powers.
On the issue of the war are staked our national sovereignty on the high
seas and the security of an important class of citizens, whose
occupations give the proper value to those of every other class. Not to
contend for such a stake is to surrender our equality with other powers
on the element common to all and to violate the sacred title which
every member of the society has to its protection. I need not call into
view the unlawfulness of the practice by which our mariners are forced
at the will of every cruising officer from their own vessels into
foreign ones, nor paint the outrages inseparable from it. The proofs
are in the records of each successive Administration of our Government,
and the cruel sufferings of that portion of the American people have
found their way to every bosom not dead to the sympathies of human
nature.
As the war was just in its origin and necessary and noble in its
objects, we can reflect with a proud satisfaction that in carrying it
on no principle of justice or honor, no usage of civilized nations, no
precept of courtesy or humanity, have been infringed. The war has been
waged on our part with scrupulous regard to all these obligations, and
in a spirit of liberality which was never surpassed.
How little has been the effect of this example on the conduct of the
enemy!
They have retained as prisoners of war citizens of the United States
not liable to be so considered under the usages of war.
They have refused to consider as prisoners of war, and threatened to
punish as traitors and deserters, persons emigrating without restraint
to the United States, incorporated by naturalization into our political
family, and fighting under the authority of their adopted country in
open and honorable war for the maintenance of its rights and safety.
Such is the avowed purpose of a Government which is in the practice of
naturalizing by thousands citizens of other countries, and not only of
permitting but compelling them to fight its battles against their
native country.
They have not, it is true, taken into their own hands the hatchet and
the knife, devoted to indiscriminate massacre, but they have let loose
the savages armed with these cruel instruments; have allured them into
their service, and carried them to battle by their sides, eager to glut
their savage thirst with the blood of the vanquished and to finish the
work of torture and death on maimed and defenseless captives. And, what
was never before seen, British commanders have extorted victory over
the unconquerable valor of our troops by presenting to the sympathy of
their chief captives awaiting massacre from their savage associates.
And now we find them, in further contempt of the modes of honorable
warfare, supplying the place of a conquering force by attempts to
disorganize our political society, to dismember our confederated
Republic. Happily, like others, these will recoil on the authors; but
they mark the degenerate counsels from which they emanate, and if they
did not belong to a sense of unexampled inconsistencies might excite
the greater wonder as proceeding from a Government which founded the
very war in which it has been so long engaged on a charge against the
disorganizing and insurrectional policy of its adversary.
To render the justice of the war on our part the more conspicuous, the
reluctance to commence it was followed by the earliest and strongest
manifestations of a disposition to arrest its progress. The sword was
scarcely out of the scabbard before the enemy was apprised of the
reasonable terms on which it would be resheathed. Still more precise
advances were repeated, and have been received in a spirit forbidding
every reliance not placed on the military resources of the nation.
These resources are amply sufficient to bring the war to an honorable
issue. Our nation is in number more than half that of the British
Isles. It is composed of a brave, a free, a virtuous, and an
intelligent people. Our country abounds in the necessaries, the arts,
and the comforts of life. A general prosperity is visible in the public
countenance. The means employed by the British cabinet to undermine it
have recoiled on themselves; have given to our national faculties a
more rapid development, and, draining or diverting the precious metals
from British circulation and British vaults, have poured them into
those of the United States. It is a propitious consideration that an
unavoidable war should have found this seasonable facility for the
contributions required to support it. When the public voice called for
war, all knew, and still know, that without them it could not be
carried on through the period which it might last, and the patriotism,
the good sense, and the manly spirit of our fellow-citizens are pledges
for the cheerfulness with which they will bear each his share of the
common burden. To render the war short and its success sure, animated
and systematic exertions alone are necessary, and the success of our
arms now may long preserve our country from the necessity of another
resort to them. Already have the gallant exploits of our naval heroes
proved to the world our inherent capacity to maintain our rights on one
element. If the reputation of our arms has been thrown under clouds on
the other, presaging flashes of heroic enterprise assure us that
nothing is wanting to correspondent triumphs there also but the
discipline and habits which are in daily progress.
