obtained, to lay the facts before the legislature, that they may
consider what further measures the honor and interest of the
government and its constituents demand; if a resolution to do
justice, as far as may depend upon me, at all times and to all
nations, and maintain peace, friendship, and benevolence with all
the world; if an unshaken confidence in the honor, spirit, and
resources of the American people, on which I have so often hazarded
my all, and never been deceived; if elevated ideas of the high
destinies of this country, and of my own duties towards it, founded
on a knowledge of the moral principles and intellectual improvements
of the people, deeply engraven on my mind in early life, and not
obscured, but exalted, by experience and age; and with humble
reverence, I feel it my duty to add, if a veneration for the
religion of the people who profess and call themselves Christians,
and a fixed resolution to consider a decent respect for Christianity
among the best recommendations for the public service, can enable
me, in any degree, to comply with your wishes, it shall be my
strenuous endeavor that this sagacious injunction of the two houses
shall not be without effect.

With this great example before me--with the sense and spirit, the
faith and honor, the duty and interest of the same American people,
pledged to support the Constitution of the United States, I
entertain no doubt of its continuance in all its energy; and my mind
is prepared, without hesitation, to lay myself under the most solemn
obligations to support it to the utmost of my power.

And may that Being who is supreme over all, the patron of order, the
fountain of justice, and the protector, in all ages of the world, of
virtuous liberty, continue his blessing upon this nation and its