UNITED STATES. 



843 



IT 



UNITED STATES. The Administration of 

 President Hayes was closed without special 

 incident. A Cabinet change took place near 

 the beginning of the year, in consequence of 

 the resignation of Secretary Thompson, of the 

 Navy Department, to accept the position of 

 American representative of the Panama Canal 

 Company. His successor was Nathan GotF, 

 Jr., of Virginia. Justice Swuyne, of the Su- 

 preme Court, having retired from the bench, 

 Mr. Stanley Matthews, of Ohio, was appointed 

 as his successor, but failed of confirmation be- 

 fore the close of the regular session of Congress, 

 in consequence of opposition in the Senate. 

 The calling of a special session of the Senate, 

 to begin on the 4th of March, and the veto of 

 the funding bill, on the last day of the Forty- 

 sixth Congress, were the only other incidents 

 worthy of note. 



The inauguration of General Garfield, on 

 the 4th of March, was attended with an un- 

 usual military and civic display, and took place 

 in the Senate-chamber, in the presence of the 

 two Houses of Congress, the Justices of the 

 Supreme Court, diplomatic representatives of 

 other nations, and a large concourse of visitors. 

 Before the oath of office was administered, 

 the President-elect was introduced by Senator 

 Pendleton, and delivered his inaugural address. 

 At his right, on the platform, sat Chief -Justice 

 Waite; on his left, ex-President Hayes; and, 

 behind him, Mrs. Hayes, the wife and vener- 

 able mother of the new President, and Vice- 

 President-elect Arthur. The address was as 

 follows: 



FELLOW-CITIZENS: "We stand to-day upon an emi- 

 nence which overlooks a hundred years of national 

 life, a century crowded with perils, but crowned with 

 triumphs of liberty and law. Before continuing our 

 onward march, let us pause on this height for a mo- 

 ment to strengthen our faith and renew our hope by 

 a glance at the pathway along which our people have 

 traveled. It is now three days more than a nundred 

 years since the adoption of the first written Constitu- 

 tion of the United States, and the Articles of Confed- 

 eration, and perpetual Union. The new republic was 

 then beset with danger on every hand. It had not 

 conquered a place in the family of nations. The de-" 

 cisive battle of the war for independence, whose cen- 

 tennial anniversary will soon be gratefully celebrated 

 at Yorktown, had not yet been fought. The colo- 

 nists were struggling not only against the armies of a 

 great nation, but against the settled opinions of man- 

 kind, for the world did not then believe that the su- 

 preme authority of the government could be safely 

 intrusted to the guardianship of the people them- 

 selves. _ We can not overestimate the fervent love of 

 lil>crty, intelligent courage, and saving common sense 

 with which our fathers made the great experiment of 

 self-government. When they found, after a short 

 trial, that the confederation of States was too weak to 

 meet the necessity of a vigorous and expanding re- 

 public, they boldly set it aside, and in its stead estab- 

 lished a national 'Union, founded directly upon the 

 will of the people, endowed with full powers of self- 

 preservation and with ample authority for the accom- 



plishment of its great objects. Under this Constitu- 

 tion the boundaries of freedom have been enlarged, 

 the foundations of order and peace have been strength- 

 ened, and the growth of our people in all the better 

 elements of national lite has indicated the wisdom of 

 its founders, and given new hope to their descendants. 

 Under this Constitution her people long ago made 

 themselves safe against danger from without, and se- 

 cured for their mariners and flag equality of rights 

 on all the seas. Under the Constitution, twenty -five 

 States have been added to the Union, with constitu- 

 tions and laws framed and enforced by their own 

 citizens to secure the manifold blessings o'f local self- 

 government. The jurisdiction of this Constitution 

 now covers an area fifty times greater than that <>f the 

 original thirteen States, and population twentv times 

 greater than that of 1780. The supreme triaf of the 

 Constitution came at last under the tremendous press- 

 ure of civil war. We ourselves are witnesses that the 

 Union emerged from the blood and fire of that con- 

 flict purified and made stronger for all beneficent pur- 

 poses of good government ; and now, at the close of 

 this first century of growth, with inspirations of its 

 history in their hearts, our people have lately viewed 

 the condition of the nation, passed judgment upon 

 the conduct and opinions of political parties, and have 

 registered their will concerning the future adminis- 

 tration of the Government. To interpret and to exe- 

 cute that will in accordance with the Constitution, is 

 the paramount duty of the Executive. Even from 

 this brief review, it is manifest that the nation is 

 resolutely facing the front, resolved to employ the 

 best energies in developing the great possibilities of 

 the future, sacredly preserving whatever has been 

 gained to liberty and a good Government during the 

 century. Our people are determined to leave behind 

 them all these bitter controversies concerning things 

 which have been irrevocably nettled, and further dis- 

 cussion of which can only stir up strife and delay 

 their onward march. The supremacv of the nation 

 and its laws should be no longer subject of debate. 

 That discussion, which for a half century threatened 

 the existence of the Union, was closed at last in the 

 high court of war, by a decree from which there is no 

 appeal, that the Constitution and the laws made in 

 pursuance thereof are, and shall continue to be, the 

 supreme law of the hind, binding alike upon the 

 States and the people. This decree does not disturb 

 the autonomy of the States or interfere with anv of 

 their necessary rights of local government, but it does 

 fix and establish the permanent supremacy of the 

 Union. The will of tne nation, speaking with the 

 vehemence of battle and through an amended Consti- 

 tution, has fulfilled the great promise of 1776 by pro- 

 claiming liberty throughout the land to all the inhab- 

 itants thereof. The elevation of the negro race from 

 slavery to the full rights of citizenship is the most 

 important political change we have known since the 

 adoption of the Constitution of 1787. No thoughtful 

 man can fail to appreciate its beneficial effects upon 

 our institutions and the people. It has freed us fn.m 

 the perpetual danger of war and dissolution : it has 

 added immensely to the moral and industrial forces 

 of our people ; it has liberated master as well as slave 

 from tne relation which wronged and enfeebled both. 

 It has surrendered to their own guardianship the 

 manhood of more than five millions of people, and has 

 opened to each one of them a career of freedom and 

 usefulness. It has given a new inspiration to the 

 power of self-help in both races by making labor 

 more honorable to the one and more necessary to the 

 other. The influence of this force will grow greater, 

 and bear richer fruit with coming years. No doubt 

 the great change has caused serious disturbance to 



