ve just solemnly sworn to
execute with fidelity and to the utmost of my ability, I derive great
satisfaction from a knowledge that I shall be assisted in the several
Departments by the very enlightened and upright citizens from whom I
have received so much aid in the preceding term. With full confidence in
the continuance of that candor and generous indulgence from my
fellow-citizens at large which I have heretofore experienced, and with
a firm reliance on the protection of Almighty God, I shall forthwith
commence the duties of the high trust to which you have called me.

* * * * *

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, INAUGURAL ADDRESS

FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1825

[Transcriber's note: The only son of a former President to be elected
to the Nation's highest office, John Quincy Adams was chosen by the
House of Representatives when the electoral college could not determine
a clear winner of the 1824 election. The outcome was assured when Henry
Clay, one of the front-runners, threw his support to Mr. Adams so that
Andrew Jackson's candidacy would fail. General Jackson had polled more
popular votes in the election, but he did not gain enough electoral
votes to win outright. The oath of office was administered by Chief
Justice John Marshall inside the Hall of the House of Representatives.]

In compliance with an usage coeval with the existence of our Federal
Constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my predecessors in the
career upon which I am about to enter, I appear, my fellow-citizens, in
your presence and in that of Heaven to bind myself by the solemnities of
religious obligation to the faithful performance of the duties allotted
to me in the station to which I have been called.

In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be
governed in the fulfillment of those duties my first resort will be to
that Constitution which I shall swear to the best of my ability to
preserve, protect, and defend. That revered instrument enumerates the
powers and prescribes the duties of the Executive Magistrate, and in its
first words declares the purposes to which these and the whole action of
the Government instituted by it should be invariably and sacredly
devoted--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 to the people of
this Union in their successive generations. Since the adoption