need not doubt that truth, reason, and their own interests will at
length prevail, will gather them into the fold of their country, and
will complete that entire union of opinion which gives to a nation the
blessing of harmony and the benefit of all its strength.

I shall now enter on the duties to which my fellow-citizens have again
called me, and shall proceed in the spirit of those principles which
they have approved. I fear not that any motives of interest may lead me
astray; I am sensible of no passion which could seduce me knowingly
from the path of justice, but the weaknesses of human nature and the
limits of my own understanding will produce errors of judgment
sometimes injurious to your interests. I shall need, therefore, all the
indulgence which I have heretofore experienced from my constituents;
the want of it will certainly not lessen with increasing years. I shall
need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our
fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a
country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has
covered our infancy with His providence and our riper years with His
wisdom and power, and to whose goodness I ask you to join in
supplications with me that He will so enlighten the minds of your
servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures that
whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and shall secure to you
the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.


***

James Madison
First Inaugural Address
Saturday, March 4, 1809