【www.gbppp.com--名人名言】
美国历任总统就职演说名句（一）
*我对我祖国的召唤，永远只能敬奉如仪。
I was summoned by my country ,whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love. ——乔治·华盛顿首任就职演说(1789.4.30)
*同胞们：我再度奉人民之召执行总统职务.只要适当时机一到,我将会尽力表现出我心中对这份殊荣及美利坚人民对我的信任所怀有的崇高的感受。宪法规定总统在执行公务之前,需先行宣誓就职。现在我在你们面前宣誓:在我执掌政府期间，若企图故意触犯法律,除承受宪法惩罚外,还接受在现在这个庄严的仪式中所有见证人的严厉谴责。
Fellow Citizens:
I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of united America.
Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony.
——乔治·华盛顿连任就职演说(1789.4.30)
*像我们这样的政府,不论存在多久，都是全人类知识与道德普遍传播的证明。
The existence of such a government as ours for any length of time is a full proof of a general dissemination of knowledge and virtue throughout the whole body of the people.
——约翰·亚当斯首任就职演说(1797.3.4)
*当一个并非尽善尽奏的人从这个职位卸任时，很少能像就任时那样深浮众望。
I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it.
*让我们恢复社会的和谐与友爱，因为没有它们，自由甚至生活本身，就将成为枯燥而无味的事情。
Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things.
*与各国和平相处，加强商业往来，并保持真诚的友谊,但不与任何国家结盟。
Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.
——托马斯·杰斐逊首任就职演说(1801.3.4)
*在宝贵的新闻自由与败坏新闻道德之间，并无一条明确的界限。
No other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness.
——托马斯·杰斐逊连任就职演说(1805.3.4)
*如果世界还有公正可言，这些论断的真实性将不会受到怀疑，至少子孙后代对此会给予公正的评价。
If there be candor in the world, the truth of these assertions will not be questioned; posterity at least will do justice to them.
——詹姆斯·麦迪逊首任就职演说(1809.3.4)
*如果我们能继续坚持目前已完成的事业,而且坚定地走已经开辟的路,我们一定会胜利。 If we persevere in the career in which we have advanced so far and in the path already traced , we can not fail.
——詹姆斯·门罗首任就职演说(1817.3.4)
*在调解现存的或可能发生的争端和冲突时，应表现出一个强国所具有的宽容而不能以一个英雄民族所固有的感情用事。
In the adjustment of may differences that may exist or arise to exhibit the forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather the sensibility belonging to a gallant people.
——安德鲁·杰克逊首任就职演说(1829.3.4)
*人民不会抛弃一个坚守岗位、诚实尽力的公仆。
The kindness of a people who never yet deserted a public servant honestly laboring in their cause. ——马丁·范布伦首任就职演说(1837.3.4)
*真正的自由精神是奉献、坚定、勇敢、不妥协，但实行自由权利必须小心、温和、宽容。 The true spirit of liberty, although devoted, persevering, bold, and uncompromising in the principle , that secured is mild and tolerant and scrupulous as to the means it employs.
——威廉·哈里逊首任就职演说(1841.3.4)
*我们的制度可以稳固地把我们的领土拓展到所能及的范围。
Our system may be safely extended to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits.
——詹姆斯·波尔克首任就职演说(1845.3.4)
*这一职位虽然可满足一种极高的奢望,但它所赋予的责任却是可畏的。
The position which I have been called to fill, though sufficient to satisfy the loftiest ambition, is surrounded by fearful responsibilities.
——扎克里·泰勒首任就职演说(1849.3.4)
*虽然我们的历史有限,然而未来却是无穷的。
If your past is limited , your future is boundless
——富兰克林·皮尔斯首任就职演说(1853.3.4)
*我们必须以公正的态度对待所有国家,也要求它门以相同的态度对待我们。
We ought to do justice in a kindly spirit to all nations and require justice from them in return ——詹姆斯·布坎南首任就职演说(185.3.4)
从自然状态来说，我们是不可分的。我们不能相互分开，也不能在中间修筑道不可逾越的隔离墙。一对夫妻可以离婚，彼此不再见面，不再来往，但是我们国家的各个地区不能这样。它们仍得相互面对，并继续交往。
Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face , and intercourse , either amicable or hostile,
must continue between them.
——亚伯拉罕·林肯（1861.3.4）
*我们对任何人也不怀恶意，我们对所有的人都宽大为怀，坚持正义；上帝既使我们认识正义，让我们继续努力向前，完成我们正在进行的事业；包扎起国家的创伤，关心那些为战争作出牺牲的人，关心他们的遗孀和孤儿——尽一切力量，以求在我们自己之间，以及我们和所有的国家之间实现并维护一个公正和持久的和平。
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the might, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
——亚伯拉罕·林肯（1865.3.4）
*我将公正地与其他各国友好相处，像平等地对待个人一样。
I Would deal with nations as equitable law requires individuals to deal with each other.
*我希望全国上下相互宽容，下定决心,为建立一个幸福联邦贡献自己的力量。
I ask patient forbearance one toward another throughout the land, and a determined effort on the part of every citizen to do his share toward cementing a happy union.
——尤利塞斯·辛普森·格兰特（1869.3.4）
*我们不论在文化上还是在军事上都占有绝对优势.因此，我们应该宽厚地对待印第安人。过去不善待他们是应好好考虑的,应取得他们的信任。
Our superiority of strength and advantages of civilization should make us lenient toward the Indian. The wrong inflicted upon him should be taken into account and the balance placed to his credit.
——尤利塞斯·辛普森·格兰特（1873.3.4）
*总统职位之争应本着友好、平和的原则予以调节,而且一旦这种调节、疏导的工作完成,全国上下就应该一致遵从。
Conflicting claims to the Presidency must be amicably and peaceably adjusted, and that when so adjusted the general acquiescence of the nation ought surely to fellow.
——拉什福德·伯查德·海斯（1877.3.5）
*问题悬而未决，万邦不得安宁【美国总统演讲】
It has been said that unsettled questions have no pity for the repose of nations.
——詹姆斯·艾布拉姆·加菲尔德（1881.3.5）
*通过以身作则,当然也要不失官事活动之庄重,来引导同胞们采取一种有助于廉正,并促进节俭和繁荣的简朴的生活方式。
May do much by their example to encourage, consistently with the dignity of their official functions, that plain way of life which among their fellow-citizens aids integrity and promotes thrift and prosperity.
——格罗弗·克利夫兰（1885.3.4）
*我们还没有达到理想的境界。并非所有的人都幸福富足，也非所有的人都行善守法。
We have not attained and ideal condition . Not all of our people are happy and prosperous; not all of them are virtuous and law-abiding.
*我并不怀疑未来，在我们的道路上曾危机四伏，但我们已经发现并完全克服了它们。
I do not mistrust the future. Dangers have been in frequent ambush along our path, but we have uncovered and vanquished them all.
——本杰明·哈利森（1889.3.4）
*即使一个强壮的人,具有坚强的体魄,对生活有坚定而积极的追求,并敢于承受持久的劳动,也可能存在潜在的、不易发现的致命的疾病，从而使他突然倒下。
The strong man who in the confidence of sturdy health courts the sternest activities of life and rejoices in the hardihood of constant labor may still have lurking near his vitals the unheeded disease that dooms him to sudden collapse.
*如果对于我们的力量和资源不要太过于自信的话,会使,我们更明智。
We will be wise if we temper our confidence and faith in our national strength and resources with the frank concession.
*我们的任务不是惩罚，而是纠正错误.如果为了解除人民日常生活的负担,我们减少那些长期享有的、不正常的、不合理的待遇，这是基于正义和公正而采取的必要措施。
Our mission is not punishment, but the rectification of wrong. If in lifting burdens from the daily life of our people we reduce inordinate and unequal advantages too long enjoyed, this is but a necessary incident of our return to right and justice.
——格罗弗·克利夫兰（1893.3.4）
*我们应该同时具备“观念的正确”和“行动的稳健”。
We must be both “sure wee right” and “make haste slowly”.
*节约是政府个部门任何时候都应遵守的原则.在目前工商业萧条、民心沮丧之际，尤其要强调这一原则。
Economy is demanded in every branch of the Government at all times. But especially in periods, like the present, of depression in business and distress among the people.
*值此入不敷出之时，举债之风,实不可长。
It will suffice while it lasts, but it can not last long while the outlays of the Government are greater than its receipts.
*有利于生产者的立法，便是对全国有利的立法。
Legislation helpful to producers is beneficial to all.
——威廉·麦金莱（1897.3.4）
*诚实、才华和勤劳是公职人员最应具备的条件。
Honesty, capacity, and industry are nowhere more indispensable than in public employment.
*“怀有希望并不可耻”。预言厄运的人并不是共和国建造者。
“Hope make not ashamed” The prophets of evil were not the builders of the Republic. ——威廉·麦金莱（1901.3.4）
*我们享受了很多的给予，因此也完全有理由被期望承受很多的付出。
Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us.
*不论是国家或个人,公正和宽厚都强者而不是弱者的表现。
But justice and generosity in a nation, as in individual, count most when shown not by the weak but the strong.
*我们希望和平，但这一和平必须是公正的和平，正义的。是因为我们认为那是正当的，而不是因为我们胆怯。
We wish peace, but we wish the peace of justice, the peace of righteousness. We wish it because we think it is right and not because we are afraid.
*我们不再遇到先辈们曾遇过的危险,但却正面临先辈们所未能预知的危险。
Our forefathers faced certain perils which we have outgrown. We now face other perils, the very existence of which it was impossible that they should foresee.
*我们没有理由惧怕未来，却有足够的理由严肃地面对未来。
There is not good reason why we should fear the future, but there is every reason why we should face it seriously.
——西奥多·罗斯福（1905.3.4）【美国总统演讲】
在美国44任、56届总统的就职演说中,留下了不少传诵后世的名篇。其中某些经典名言更是扬名天下,下面是笔者摘录其中的部分名句与网友资源共享。1月24日已经发布了(一)现在发布（二）,奥巴马就职演说全文已发于1月21日。
*我们一直对自己工业上的成就感到骄傲，但至今为止，却从未冷静地计算一下这一切所花费的社会代价；人的代价，生活所毁灭的代价，以及精力由于负担过重而崩溃的代价。 ----伍德罗·威尔逊首任就职演说（1913.3.4）
*我们的政策是对最卑微的人和最强有力的人一视同仁,并一心一意维护这一正义而公道的标准,我们为此而感到自豪.但我们对这一政策在实行中的不足之处,却非常粗心大意,而急于求成。
----伍德罗·威尔逊首任就职演说（1913.3.4）
*公正，只有公正，才永远是我们的座右铭。
----伍德罗·威尔逊首任就职演说（1913.3.4）
*我们已经完成的工作并不值得太骄傲，共同福祉才是我们努力的目标。
中国一句成语叫画龙点睛，往往最后一笔最传神。美国新任总统的就职演说也是一样，最值得关注的就是最后一部分，如何让听众情绪high到最高点。当然，我指的是演讲的最后一部分，而不一定是最后一句话，因为美国总统演讲的
最后一句话一般都上帝有关，最典型的一句是God bless you and may God bless America(愿上帝保佑你们，保佑美利坚)，有点像过去中国人说的“万岁万岁万万岁”，只是一个程式。正如毛泽东所说，真正的上帝其实就是人民大众，
美国的总统对这一点也非常清楚，所以演讲的最后总是落脚到美国民众。 直到今天，人们还津津乐道1961年1月20日肯尼迪就职演讲结尾时的点睛之笔：“我的美国同胞们：不要问你的国家可以为你做什么，而要问你可以为你的国家做什么(my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country)”。肯尼迪的那番话对他的美国同胞提出了高标准严要求，而肯尼迪的继承人约翰逊在1965年1月20日的就职演说的结尾则引用了圣经的一句话恭维他的美国同胞：“请赐我智慧与知识，让我得以面对我们的人民。不然，如何能估量出我们人民的伟大呢?”(Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for
who can judge this thy people, that is so great?)
约翰逊之后的总统就是打开中美关系大门的尼克松总统，他两度当选总统，所以有两次就职演说。他在1973年1月20日第二次就职演说的结尾提起了他的前任：“当我站在这里，一个被历史赋予了神圣性的地方，我想到了在我之前曾经站在这里的那些人，想到了他们的美国梦，我知道他们中的每个人都意识到：为了使梦想成真，他们个人的努力远远不够，需要民众的助力(As I stand
in this place, so hallowed by history, I think of others who have stood here
before me. I think of the dreams they had for America, and I think of how each
recognized that he needed help far beyond himself in order to make those
dreams come true)”。
1977年1月20日卡特总统在就职演说中的结尾已经提到了他离任的那一天：“我和你们一样希望，当我作为你们的总统任期结束的时候，人们将会这样
谈论我们的国家：…..”(And I join in the hope that when my time as your
President has ended, people might say this about our Nation：…….)，他的希望包括了很多内容，但都很朴实，这里只举几个例子：每个有劳动能力的人都找到了有价值的工作;不论强弱、贫富在法律面前都人人平等;每个美国家庭都和谐
兴旺。
卡特只担任了一任总统，接任的里根则担任了两届总统职位，他在1981年1月20日第一次就职演讲的结尾讲了第一次世界大战中一个普通士兵的故事。这个士兵的名字叫Martin Treptow，他本来在美国一个小城的理发店工作，大战开始后他应征入伍来到了法国战场。当这位士兵在战场上牺牲后，人们在他的身上发现了一个日记本，里面有这样的“决心书”(my pledge)：“美国必胜。为此，我要工作，我要节俭，我要奉献，我要忍耐，我要热忱地竭尽最大努力去战
斗，就好象整个战争的胜负取决于我一个人(America must win this war.
Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight
cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on
me alone)”。
1989年1月20日就职的老布什在就职演讲的最后也谈到了历史，但是不是像里根那样讲了一个动人故事，而是诗情画意的描述：“我把历史看作是一本有许多页码的书籍，每一页都记录了心想事成的每一天。微风吹过，翻开了新的一页，新的故事开始了(But I see history as a book with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of hopefulness and meaning. The new breeze
blows, a page turns, the story unfolds)”。
克林顿在1997年1月20日他的第2次就职演说的最后也使用了诗的语言，但不是像布什一样描述历史，而是展望未来：“我们还看不到我们的后代的面孔，也永远不会知道他们的名字，但是当他们谈论到我们的时候，希望他们会说我们把祖国领进了新的世纪，把有活力的美国梦留给了所有的子孙(May those generations whose faces we cannot yet see, whose names we may never know, say of us here that we led our beloved land into a new century with the
American Dream alive for all her children)”。
2001年1月20日，小布什在他的第1次就职演讲中的最后使用了排比句式鼓舞民心：“永不疲惫、永不气馁、永不完竭，今天我们重树这样的目标：使我们的国家变得更加公正、更加慷慨，去体现我们每个人和所有人生命的尊严(Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose today, to make our country more just and generous, to affirm the dignity of our lives and
every life.)。
小布什虽然说得好听，但是他重树的目标显然并没有达到。8年后，当美国历史上第一位非洲裔总统就任的时候，奥巴马是以这样颇为沉重的语句结束他的就职演说的：“满怀希望和信念，让我们再度穿越冰凌，顶住来袭的风暴。愿我们的孩子的孩子们这样评说：当先辈们当年面临严峻考验的时候，他们没有停下脚步，没有回头，也没有动摇…(With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end,
that we did not turn back nor did we falter…)”。
First Inaugural Address of George Washington
THE CITY OF NEW YORK
THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1789
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years—a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare hope is that if, in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me, and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated.
Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow- citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence. By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President "to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents,
the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so, on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.
Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good; for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted.
To the foregoing observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House of Representatives. It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible. When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in no instance departed; and being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department, and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed may during my continuance in it be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require.
Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.
Second Inaugural Address of George Washington
THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1793
Fellow Citizens:
I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of united America.
Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony.
Inaugural Address of John Adams
INAUGURAL ADDRESS IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1797
When it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course for America remained between unlimited submission to a foreign legislature and a total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive of danger from the formidable power of fleets and armies they must determine to resist than from those contests and dissensions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole and over the parts of this extensive country. Relying, however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, and the integrity and intelligence of the people, under an overruling Providence which had so signally protected this country from the first, the representatives of this nation, then consisting of little more than half its present number, not only broke to pieces the chains which were forging and the rod of iron that was lifted up, but frankly cut asunder the ties which had bound them, and launched into an ocean of uncertainty.
The zeal and ardor of the people during the Revolutionary war, supplying the place of government, commanded a degree of order sufficient at least for the temporary preservation of society. The Confederation which was early felt to be necessary was prepared from the models of the Batavian and Helvetic confederacies, the only examples which remain with any detail and precision in history, and certainly the only ones which the people at large had ever considered. But reflecting on the striking difference in so many particulars between this country and those where a courier may go from the seat of government to the frontier in a single day, it was then certainly foreseen by some who assisted in Congress at the formation of it that it could not be durable.
Negligence of its regulations, inattention to its recommendations, if not disobedience to its authority, not only in individuals but in States, soon appeared with their melancholy consequences— universal languor, jealousies and rivalries of States, decline of navigation and commerce, discouragement of necessary manufactures, universal fall in the value of lands and their produce, contempt of public and private faith, loss of consideration and credit with foreign nations, and at length in discontents, animosities, combinations, partial conventions, and insurrection, threatening some great national calamity.
In this dangerous crisis the people of America were not abandoned by their usual good sense, presence of mind, resolution, or integrity. Measures were pursued to concert a plan to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty. The public disquisitions, discussions, and deliberations issued in the present happy Constitution of Government.
Employed in the service of my country abroad during the whole course of these transactions, I first saw the Constitution of the United States in a foreign country. Irritated by no literary altercation, animated by no public debate, heated by no party animosity, I read it with great satisfaction, as the result of good heads prompted by good hearts, as an experiment better adapted to the genius, character, situation, and relations of this nation and country
than any which had ever been proposed or suggested. In its general principles and great outlines it was conformable to such a system of government as I had ever most esteemed, and in some States, my own native State in particular, had contributed to establish. Claiming a right of suffrage, in common with my fellow-citizens, in the adoption or rejection of a constitution which was to rule me and my posterity, as well as them and theirs, I did not hesitate to express my approbation of it on all occasions, in public and in private. It was not then, nor has been since, any objection to it in my mind that the Executive and Senate were not more permanent. Nor have I ever entertained a thought of promoting any alteration in it but such as the people themselves, in the course of their experience, should see and feel to be necessary or expedient, and by their representatives in Congress and the State legislatures, according to the Constitution itself, adopt and ordain.
Returning to the bosom of my country after a painful separation from it for ten years, I had the honor to be elected to a station under the new order of things, and I have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious obligations to support the Constitution. The operation of it has equaled the most sanguine expectations of its friends, and from an habitual attention to it, satisfaction in its administration, and delight in its effects upon the peace, order, prosperity, and happiness of the nation I have acquired an habitual attachment to it and veneration for it.
What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love?
There may be little solidity in an ancient idea that congregations of men into cities and nations are the most pleasing objects in the sight of superior intelligences, but this is very certain, that to a benevolent human mind there can be no spectacle presented by any nation more pleasing, more noble, majestic, or august, than an assembly like that which has so often been seen in this and the other Chamber of Congress, of a Government in which the Executive authority, as well as that of all the branches of the Legislature, are exercised by citizens selected at regular periods by their neighbors to make and execute laws for the general good. Can anything essential, anything more than mere ornament and decoration, be added to this by robes and diamonds? Can authority be more amiable and respectable when it descends from accidents or institutions established in remote antiquity than when it springs fresh from the hearts and judgments of an honest and enlightened people? For it is the people only that are represented. It is their power and majesty that is reflected, and only for their good, in every legitimate government, under whatever form it may appear. The existence of such a government as ours for any length of time is a full proof of a general dissemination of knowledge and virtue throughout the whole body of the people. And what object or consideration more pleasing than this can be presented to the human mind? If national pride is ever justifiable or excusable it is when it springs, not from power or riches, grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national innocence, information, and benevolence.
In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections. If an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good. If that solitary suffrage can be obtained by foreign nations by flattery or menaces, by fraud or violence, by terror, intrigue, or venality, the Government may not be the choice of the American people, but of foreign nations. It may be foreign nations who govern us, and not we, the people, who govern ourselves; and candid men will acknowledge that in such cases choice would have little advantage to boast of over lot or chance. Such is the amiable and interesting system of government (and such are some of the abuses to which it may be exposed) which the people of America have exhibited to the admiration and anxiety of the wise and virtuous of all nations for eight years under the administration of a citizen who, by a long course of great actions, regulated by prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, conducting a people inspired with the same virtues and animated with the same ardent patriotism and love of liberty to independence and peace, to increasing wealth and unexampled prosperity, has merited the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, commanded the highest praises of foreign nations, and
secured immortal glory with posterity.
In that retirement which is his voluntary choice may he long live to enjoy the delicious recollection of his services, the gratitude of mankind, the happy fruits of them to himself and the world, which are daily increasing, and that splendid prospect of the future fortunes of this country which is opening from year to year. His name may be still a rampart, and the knowledge that he lives a bulwark, against all open or secret enemies of his country's peace. This example has been recommended to the imitation of his successors by both Houses of Congress and by the voice of the legislatures and the people throughout the nation.
On this subject it might become me better to be silent or to speak with diffidence; but as something may be expected, the occasion, I hope, will be admitted as an apology if I venture to say that if a preference, upon principle, of a free republican government, formed upon long and serious reflection, after a diligent and impartial inquiry after truth; if an attachment to the Constitution of the United States, and a conscientious determination to support it until it shall be altered by the judgments and wishes of the people, expressed in the mode prescribed in it; if a respectful attention to the constitutions of the individual States and a constant caution and delicacy toward the State governments; if an equal and impartial regard to the rights, interest, honor, and happiness of all the States in the Union, without preference or regard to a northern or southern, an eastern or western, position, their various political opinions on unessential points or their personal attachments; if a love of virtuous men of all parties and denominations; if a love of science and letters and a wish to patronize every rational effort to encourage schools, colleges, universities, academies, and every institution for propagating knowledge, virtue, and religion among all classes of the people, not only for their benign influence on the happiness of life in all its stages and classes, and of society in all its forms, but as the only means of preserving our Constitution from its natural enemies, the spirit of sophistry, the spirit of party, the spirit of intrigue, the profligacy of corruption, and the pestilence of foreign influence, which is the angel of destruction to elective governments; if a love of equal laws, of justice, and humanity in the interior administration; if an inclination to improve agriculture, commerce, and manufacturers for necessity, convenience, and defense; if a spirit of equity and humanity toward the aboriginal nations of America, and a disposition to meliorate their condition by inclining them to be more friendly to us, and our citizens to be more friendly to them; if an inflexible determination to maintain peace and inviolable faith with all nations, and that system of neutrality and impartiality among the belligerent powers of Europe which has been adopted by this Government and so solemnly sanctioned by both Houses of Congress and applauded by the legislatures of the States and the public opinion, until it shall be otherwise ordained by Congress; if a personal esteem for the French nation, formed in a residence of seven years chiefly among them, and a sincere desire to preserve the friendship which has been so much for the honor and interest of both nations; if, while the conscious honor and integrity of the people of America and the internal sentiment of their own power and energies must be preserved, an earnest endeavor to investigate every just cause and remove every colorable pretense of complaint; if an intention to pursue by amicable negotiation a reparation for the injuries that have been committed on the commerce of our fellow-citizens by whatever nation, and if success can not be obtained, to lay the facts before the Legislature, that they may consider what further measures the honor and interest of the Government and its constituents demand; if a resolution to do justice as far as may depend upon me, at all times and to all nations, and maintain peace, friendship, and benevolence with all the world; if an unshaken confidence in the honor, spirit, and resources of the American people, on which I have so often hazarded my all and never been deceived; if elevated ideas of the high destinies of this country and of my own duties toward it, founded on a knowledge of the moral principles and intellectual improvements of the people deeply engraven on my mind in early life, and not obscured but exalted by experience and age; and, with humble reverence, I feel it to be my duty to add, if a veneration for the religion of a people who profess and call themselves Christians, and a fixed resolution to consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for the public service, can enable me in any degree to comply with
Hi, everybody. One of the things that makes America so strong is our spirit of innovation. Our drive to invent and harness new technologies to tackle our greatest challenges. It’s how we won the race to invent the lightbulb and the Internet; it’s why we were first to the Moon and Mars. It’s why I keep models of American inventions like the telegraph in the Oval Office. It’s a daily reminder of the genius that’s embedded in our DNA; the way we’ve always shaped the future through our ideas and discoveries.
That’s truer than ever today, with the constant stream of new apps and tools and data that are still changing the way we live – from getting a ride to paying our bills to developing smarter ways to combat climate change.
That’s why, next week, I’ll travel to Austin, Texas, to visit South by Southwest. It’s an annual gathering of some of our most creative thinkers, coders, makers, and entrepreneurs from across the country. And while I’m there, I’m going to ask everyone for ideas and technologies that can help update our government and our democracy to be as modern and dynamic as America itself.
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