trust imposed upon the Chief Executive of the Republic will give to me
generous support in my duties to "preserve, protect, and defend, the
Constitution of the United States" and to "care that the laws be
faithfully executed." The national purpose is indicated through a
national election. It is the constitutional method of ascertaining the
public will. When once it is registered it is a law to us all, and
faithful observance should follow its decrees.

Strong hearts and helpful hands are needed, and, fortunately, we have
them in every part of our beloved country. We are reunited.
Sectionalism has disappeared. Division on public questions can no
longer be traced by the war maps of 1861. These old differences less
and less disturb the judgment. Existing problems demand the thought and
quicken the conscience of the country, and the responsibility for their
presence, as well as for their righteous settlement, rests upon us all
- no more upon me than upon you. There are some national questions in
the solution of which patriotism should exclude partisanship.
Magnifying their difficulties will not take them off our hands nor
facilitate their adjustment. Distrust of the capacity, integrity, and
high purposes of the American people will not be an inspiring theme for
future political contests. Dark pictures and gloomy forebodings are
worse than useless. These only becloud, they do not help to point the
way of safety and honor. "Hope maketh not ashamed." The prophets of
evil were not the builders of the Republic, nor in its crises since
have they saved or served it. The faith of the fathers was a mighty
force in its creation, and the faith of their descendants has wrought
its progress and furnished its defenders. They are obstructionists who
despair, and who would destroy confidence in the ability of our people
to solve wisely and for civilization the mighty problems resting upon
them. The American people, intrenched in freedom at home, take their