and strengthen a proper confidence in those institutions of the several
States and of the United States which the people themselves have
ordained for their own government.

My experience in public concerns and the observation of a life somewhat
advanced confirm the opinions long since imbibed by me, that the
destruction of our State governments or the annihilation of their
control over the local concerns of the people would lead directly to
revolution and anarchy, and finally to despotism and military
domination. In proportion, therefore, as the General Government
encroaches upon the rights of the States, in the same proportion does
it impair its own power and detract from its ability to fulfill the
purposes of its creation. Solemnly impressed with these considerations,
my countrymen will ever find me ready to exercise my constitutional
powers in arresting measures which may directly or indirectly encroach
upon the rights of the States or tend to consolidate all political
power in the General Government. But of equal, and, indeed, of
incalculable, importance is the union of these States, and the sacred
duty of all to contribute to its preservation by a liberal support of
the General Government in the exercise of its just powers. You have
been wisely admonished to "accustom yourselves to think and speak of
the Union as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity,
watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety, discountenancing
whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be
abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of any
attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to
enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts."
Without union our independence and liberty would never have been
achieved; without union they never can be maintained. Divided into
twenty-four, or even a smaller number, of separate communities, we