James Monroe
First Inaugural Address
Tuesday, March 4, 1817
I SHOULD be destitute of feeling if I was not deeply affected by the
strong proof which my fellow-citizens have given me of their confidence
in calling me to the high office whose functions I am about to assume.
As the expression of their good opinion of my conduct in the public
service, I derive from it a gratification which those who are conscious
of having done all that they could to merit it can alone feel. My
sensibility is increased by a just estimate of the importance of the
trust and of the nature and extent of its duties, with the proper
discharge of which the highest interests of a great and free people are
intimately connected. Conscious of my own deficiency, I cannot enter on
these duties without great anxiety for the result. From a just
responsibility I will never shrink, calculating with confidence that in
my best efforts to promote the public welfare my motives will always be
duly appreciated and my conduct be viewed with that candor and
indulgence which I have experienced in other stations.
In commencing the duties of the chief executive office it has been the
practice of the distinguished men who have gone before me to explain
the principles which would govern them in their respective
Administrations. In following their venerated example my attention is
naturally drawn to the great causes which have contributed in a
principal degree to produce the present happy condition of the United
States. They will best explain the nature of our duties and shed much
light on the policy which ought to be pursued in future.
From the commencement of our Revolution to the present day almost forty
years have elapsed, and from the establishment of this Constitution
twenty-eight. Through this whole term the Government has been what may
emphatically be called self-government. And what has been the effect?
To whatever object we turn our attention, whether it relates to our
foreign or domestic concerns, we find abundant cause to felicitate
ourselves in the excellence of our institutions. During a period
fraught with difficulties and marked by very extraordinary events the
United States have flourished beyond example. Their citizens
individually have been happy and the nation prosperous.
Under this Constitution our commerce has been wisely regulated with
foreign nations and between the States; new States have been admitted
into our Union; our territory has been enlarged by fair and honorable
treaty, and with great advantage to the original States; the States,
respectively protected by the National Government under a mild,
parental system against foreign dangers, and enjoying within their
separate spheres, by a wise partition of power, a just proportion of
the sovereignty, have improved their police, extended their
settlements, and attained a strength and maturity which are the best
proofs of wholesome laws well administered. And if we look to the
condition of individuals what a proud spectacle does it exhibit! On
whom has oppression fallen in any quarter of our Union? Who has been
deprived of any right of person or property? Who restrained from
offering his vows in the mode which he prefers to the Divine Author of
his being? It is well known that all these blessings have been enjoyed
in their fullest extent; and I add with peculiar satisfaction that
there has been no example of a capital punishment being inflicted on
anyone for the crime of high treason.
Some who might admit the competency of our Government to these
beneficent duties might doubt it in trials which put to the test its
strength and efficiency as a member of the great community of nations.
Here too experience has afforded us the most satisfactory proof in its
favor. Just as this Constitution was put into action several of the
principal States of Europe had become much agitated and some of them
seriously convulsed. Destructive wars ensued, which have of late only
been terminated. In the course of these conflicts the United States
received great injury from several of the parties. It was their
interest to stand aloof from the contest, to demand justice from the
party committing the injury, and to cultivate by a fair and honorable
conduct the friendship of all. War became at length inevitable, and the
result has shown that our Government is equal to that, the greatest of
trials, under the most unfavorable circumstances. Of the virtue of the
people and of the heroic exploits of the Army, the Navy, and the
militia I need not speak.
Such, then, is the happy Government under which we live - a Government
adequate to every purpose for which the social compact is formed; a
Government elective in all its branches, under which every citizen may
by his merit obtain the highest trust recognized by the Constitution;
which contains within it no cause of discord, none to put at variance
one portion of the community with another; a Government which protects
every citizen in the full enjoyment of his rights, and is able to
protect the nation against injustice from foreign powers.
Other considerations of the highest importance admonish us to cherish
our Union and to cling to the Government which supports it. Fortunate
as we are in our political institutions, we have not been less so in
other circumstances on which our prosperity and happiness essentially
depend. Situated within the temperate zone, and extending through many
degrees of latitude along the Atlantic, the United States enjoy all the
varieties of climate, and every production incident to that portion of
the globe. Penetrating internally to the Great Lakes and beyond the
sources of the great rivers which communicate through our whole
interior, no country was ever happier with respect to its domain.
Blessed, too, with a fertile soil, our produce has always been very
abundant, leaving, even in years the least favorable, a surplus for the
wants of our fellow-men in other countries. Such is our peculiar
felicity that there is not a part of our Union that is not particularly
interested in preserving it. The great agricultural interest of the
nation prospers under its protection. Local interests are not less
fostered by it. Our fellow-citizens of the North engaged in navigation
find great encouragement in being made the favored carriers of the vast
productions of the other portions of the United States, while the
inhabitants of these are amply recompensed, in their turn, by the
nursery for seamen and naval force thus formed and reared up for the
support of our common rights. Our manufactures find a generous
encouragement by the policy which patronizes domestic industry, and the
surplus of our produce a steady and profitable market by local wants in
less-favored parts at home.
Such, then, being the highly favored condition of our country, it is
the interest of every citizen to maintain it. What are the dangers
which menace us? If any exist they ought to be ascertained and guarded
against.
In explaining my sentiments on this subject it may be asked, What
raised us to the present happy state? How did we accomplish the
Revolution? How remedy the defects of the first instrument of our
Union, by infusing into the National Government sufficient power for
national purposes, without impairing the just rights of the States or
affecting those of individuals? How sustain and pass with glory through
the late war? The Government has been in the hands of the people. To
the people, therefore, and to the faithful and able depositaries of
their trust is the credit due. Had the people of the United States been
educated in different principles, had they been less intelligent, less
independent, or less virtuous, can it be believed that we should have
maintained the same steady and consistent career or been blessed with
the same success? While, then, the constituent body retains its present
sound and healthful state everything will be safe. They will choose
competent and faithful representatives for every department. It is only
when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into
a populace, that they are incapable of exercising the sovereignty.
Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The
people themselves become the willing instruments of their own
debasement and ruin. Let us, then, look to the great cause, and
endeavor to preserve it in full force. Let us by all wise and
constitutional measures promote intelligence among the people as the
best means of preserving our liberties.
Dangers from abroad are not less deserving of attention. Experiencing
the fortune of other nations, the United States may be again involved
in war, and it may in that event be the object of the adverse party to
overset our Government, to break our Union, and demolish us as a
nation. Our distance from Europe and the just, moderate, and pacific
policy of our Government may form some security against these dangers,
but they ought to be anticipated and guarded against. Many of our
citizens are engaged in commerce and navigation, and all of them are in
a certain degree dependent on their prosperous state. Many are engaged
in the fisheries. These interests are exposed to invasion in the wars
between other powers, and we should disregard the faithful admonition
of experience if we did not expect it. We must support our rights or
lose our character, and with it, perhaps, our liberties. A people who
fail to do it can scarcely be said to hold a place among independent
nations. National honor is national property of the highest value. The
sentiment in the mind of every citizen is national strength. It ought
therefore to be cherished.
To secure us against these dangers our coast and inland frontiers
should be fortified, our Army and Navy, regulated upon just principles
as to the force of each, be kept in perfect order, and our militia be
placed on the best practicable footing. To put our extensive coast in
such a state of defense as to secure our cities and interior from
invasion will be attended with expense, but the work when finished will
be permanent, and it is fair to presume that a single campaign of
invasion by a naval force superior to our own, aided by a few thousand
land troops, would expose us to greater expense, without taking into
the estimate the loss of property and distress of our citizens, than
would be sufficient for this great work. Our land and naval forces
should be moderate, but adequate to the necessary purposes - the former
to garrison and preserve our fortifications and to meet the first
invasions of a foreign foe, and, while constituting the elements of a
greater force, to preserve the science as well as all the necessary
implements of war in a state to be brought into activity in the event
of war; the latter, retained within the limits proper in a state of
peace, might aid in maintaining the neutrality of the United States
with dignity in the wars of other powers and in saving the property of
their citizens from spoliation. In time of war, with the enlargement of
which the great naval resources of the country render it susceptible,
and which should be duly fostered in time of peace, it would contribute
essentially, both as an auxiliary of defense and as a powerful engine
of annoyance, to diminish the calamities of war and to bring the war to
a speedy and honorable termination.
But it ought always to be held prominently in view that the safety of
these States and of everything dear to a free people must depend in an
eminent degree on the militia. Invasions may be made too formidable to
be resisted by any land and naval force which it would comport either
with the principles of our Government or the circumstances of the
United States to maintain. In such cases recourse must be had to the
great body of the people, and in a manner to produce the best effect.
It is of the highest importance, therefore, that they be so organized
and trained as to be prepared for any emergency. The arrangement should
be such as to put at the command of the Government the ardent
patriotism and youthful vigor of the country. If formed on equal and
just principles, it can not be oppressive. It is the crisis which makes
the pressure, and not the laws which provide a remedy for it. This
arrangement should be formed, too, in time of peace, to be the better
prepared for war. With such an organization of such a people the United
States have nothing to dread from foreign invasion. At its approach an
overwhelming force of gallant men might always be put in motion.
Other interests of high importance will claim attention, among which
the improvement of our country by roads and canals, proceeding always
with a constitutional sanction, holds a distinguished place. By thus
facilitating the intercourse between the States we shall add much to
the convenience and comfort of our fellow-citizens, much to the
ornament of the country, and, what is of greater importance, we shall
shorten distances, and, by making each part more accessible to and
dependent on the other, we shall bind the Union more closely together.
Nature has done so much for us by intersecting the country with so many
great rivers, bays, and lakes, approaching from distant points so near
to each other, that the inducement to complete the work seems to be
peculiarly strong. A more interesting spectacle was perhaps never seen
than is exhibited within the limits of the United States - a territory
so vast and advantageously situated, containing objects so grand, so
useful, so happily connected in all their parts!
Our manufacturers will likewise require the systematic and fostering
care of the Government. Possessing as we do all the raw materials, the
fruit of our own soil and industry, we ought not to depend in the
degree we have done on supplies from other countries. While we are thus
dependent the sudden event of war, unsought and unexpected, can not
fail to plunge us into the most serious difficulties. It is important,
too, that the capital which nourishes our manufacturers should be
domestic, as its influence in that case instead of exhausting, as it
may do in foreign hands, would be felt advantageously on agriculture
and every other branch of industry. Equally important is it to provide
at home a market for our raw materials, as by extending the competition
it will enhance the price and protect the cultivator against the
casualties incident to foreign markets.
With the Indian tribes it is our duty to cultivate friendly relations
and to act with kindness and liberality in all our transactions.
Equally proper is it to persevere in our efforts to extend to them the
advantages of civilization.
The great amount of our revenue and the flourishing state of the
Treasury are a full proof of the competency of the national resources
for any emergency, as they are of the willingness of our
fellow-citizens to bear the burdens which the public necessities
require. The vast amount of vacant lands, the value of which daily
augments, forms an additional resource of great extent and duration.
These resources, besides accomplishing every other necessary purpose,
put it completely in the power of the United States to discharge the
national debt at an early period. Peace is the best time for
improvement and preparation of every kind; it is in peace that our
commerce flourishes most, that taxes are most easily paid, and that the
revenue is most productive.
The Executive is charged officially in the Departments under it with
the disbursement of the public money, and is responsible for the
faithful application of it to the purposes for which it is raised. The
Legislature is the watchful guardian over the public purse. It is its
duty to see that the disbursement has been honestly made. To meet the
requisite responsibility every facility should be afforded to the
Executive to enable it to bring the public agents intrusted with the
public money strictly and promptly to account. Nothing should be
presumed against them; but if, with the requisite facilities, the
public money is suffered to lie long and uselessly in their hands, they
will not be the only defaulters, nor will the demoralizing effect be
confined to them. It will evince a relaxation and want of tone in the
Administration which will be felt by the whole community. I shall do
all I can to secure economy and fidelity in this important branch of
the Administration, and I doubt not that the Legislature will perform
its duty with equal zeal. A thorough examination should be regularly
made, and I will promote it.
It is particularly gratifying to me to enter on the discharge of these
duties at a time when the United States are blessed with peace. It is a
state most consistent with their prosperity and happiness. It will be
my sincere desire to preserve it, so far as depends on the Executive,
on just principles with all nations, claiming nothing unreasonable of
any and rendering to each what is its due.
Equally gratifying is it to witness the increased harmony of opinion
which pervades our Union. Discord does not belong to our system. Union
is recommended as well by the free and benign principles of our
Government, extending its blessings to every individual, as by the
other eminent advantages attending it. The American people have
encountered together great dangers and sustained severe trials with
success. They constitute one great family with a common interest.
Experience has enlightened us on some questions of essential importance
to the country. The progress has been slow, dictated by a just
reflection and a faithful regard to every interest connected with it.
To promote this harmony in accord with the principles of our republican
Government and in a manner to give them the most complete effect, and
to advance in all other respects the best interests of our Union, will
be the object of my constant and zealous exertions.
Never did a government commence under auspices so favorable, nor ever
was success so complete. If we look to the history of other nations,
ancient or modern, we find no example of a growth so rapid, so
gigantic, of a people so prosperous and happy. In contemplating what we
have still to perform, the heart of every citizen must expand with joy
when he reflects how near our Government has approached to perfection;
that in respect to it we have no essential improvement to make; that
the great object is to preserve it in the essential principles and
features which characterize it, and that is to be done by preserving
the virtue and enlightening the minds of the people; and as a security
against foreign dangers to adopt such arrangements as are indispensable
to the support of our independence, our rights and liberties. If we
persevere in the career in which we have advanced so far and in the
path already traced, we can not fail, under the favor of a gracious
Providence, to attain the high destiny which seems to await us.
In the Administrations of the illustrious men who have preceded me in
this high station, with some of whom I have been connected by the
closest ties from early life, examples are presented which will always
be found highly instructive and useful to their successors. From these
I shall endeavor to derive all the advantages which they may afford. Of
my immediate predecessor, under whom so important a portion of this
great and successful experiment has been made, I shall be pardoned for
expressing my earnest wishes that he may long enjoy in his retirement
the affections of a grateful country, the best reward of exalted
talents and the most faithful and meritorious service. Relying on the
aid to be derived from the other departments of the Government, I enter
on the trust to which I have been called by the suffrages of my
fellow-citizens with my fervent prayers to the Almighty that He will be
graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which He has
already so conspicuously displayed in our favor.
