INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

Martin Van Buren

INAUGURAL ADDRESS

SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1837

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The ailing President Jackson and his Vice President Van Buren rode
together to the Capitol from the White House in a carriage made of
timbers from the U.S.S. Constitution. Chief Justice Roger Taney
administered the oath of office on the East Portico of the
Capitol. For the first and only time, the election for Vice
President had been decided by the Senate, as provided by the
Constitution, when the electoral college could not select a
winner. The new Vice President, Richard M. Johnson, took his oath
in the Senate Chamber.

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Fellow-Citizens: The practice of all my predecessors imposes on me
an obligation I cheerfully fulfill--to accompany the first and
solemn act of my public trust with an avowal of the principles
that will guide me in performing it and an expression of my
feelings on assuming a charge so responsible and vast. In
imitating their example I tread in the footsteps of illustrious