It is my good fortune, moreover, to have the path in which I am to
tread lighted by examples of illustrious services successfully rendered
in the most trying difficulties by those who have marched before me. Of
those of my immediate predecessor it might least become me here to
speak. I may, however, be pardoned for not suppressing the sympathy
with which my heart is full in the rich reward he enjoys in the
benedictions of a beloved country, gratefully bestowed or exalted
talents zealously devoted through a long career to the advancement of
its highest interest and happiness.

But the source to which I look or the aids which alone can supply my
deficiencies is in the well-tried intelligence and virtue of my
fellow-citizens, and in the counsels of those representing them in the
other departments associated in the care of the national interests. In
these my confidence will under every difficulty be best placed, next to
that which we have all been encouraged to feel in the guardianship and
guidance of that Almighty Being whose power regulates the destiny of
nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispensed to this
rising Republic, and to whom we are bound to address our devout
gratitude for the past, as well as our fervent supplications and best
hopes for the future.


***

James Madison
Second Inaugural Address
Thursday, March 4, 1813