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President Polk's Inaugural Address |
President Polk's Message to Congress on the Mexican War |
President Polk Declares War on Mexico
Inaugural Address.—On March 4, 1845,
President Polk delivered the following inaugural address:
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 cannot 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 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 be-fitting 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 guarantee 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.
Inauguration of President
Polk
" 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 ad-ministration for our
domestic concerns and the surest bulwark against anti-republican
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 enumerative 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 ac-cording to the dictates of
their own con-science; of every shade of opinion, and the most free
inquire; 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 positions as members of the confederacy within
the last week. Our population has increased from 3,000,000 to
20,000,000. 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 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 the 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 con-template its destruction. To secure a
continuance of that devotion the compromises of the Constitution must
not only be preserved, but sectional jealousies and heart-burnings 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 prejudices of the interests of
their fellow-citizens, and should be avoided. If the compromises of the
Constitution be preserved, if sectional jealousies and heart-burnings be
discountenanced, if our laws be just and the government be practically
administered strictly within the limits of power pre-scribed 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
cannot 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 cannot 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 the government. In the general proposition
that no more money shall be collected than the necessities of an
economical ad-ministration 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 an-other 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 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 de-tails 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 in-dispensable 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 sup-port of
the 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 in-justice 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 pre-scribed, 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
wide-spread country as the only means of preserving harmony and a
cheerful ac-quiescence 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
in-creasing 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 cannot be other-wise 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
should 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 ex-tended 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
addition-al 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 re-annexation 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 ale 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 e of the Alleghanies. Within that period—within the lifetime, I might say, of
some of my hearers—our people, in-creasing to many millions, have filled
the eastern valley of the Mississippi, adventurously ascended the
Missouri to its head-springs, 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, the duty of protecting them belongs 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 cannot be long
delayed, within the sphere of our federative Union. In the mean time,
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 skilled 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 in-trusted 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. |