experience in the office.

When my first term of the office of Chief Executive began, the country
had not recovered from the effects of a great internal revolution, and
three of the former States of the Union had not been restored to their
Federal relations.

It seemed to me wise that no new questions should be raised so long as
that condition of affairs existed. Therefore the past four years, so
far as I could control events, have been consumed in the effort to
restore harmony, public credit, commerce, and all the arts of peace and
progress. It is my firm conviction that the civilized world is tending
toward republicanism, or government by the people through their chosen
representatives, and that our own great Republic is destined to be the
guiding star to all others.

Under our Republic we support an army less than that of any European
power of any standing and a navy less than that of either of at least
five of them. There could be no extension of territory on the continent
which would call for an increase of this force, but rather might such
extension enable us to diminish it.

The theory of government changes with general progress. Now that the
telegraph is made available for communicating thought, together with
rapid transit by steam, all parts of a continent are made contiguous
for all purposes of government, and communication between the extreme
limits of the country made easier than it was throughout the old
thirteen States at the beginning of our national existence.

The effects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave and