ail, will gather them into the fold of their country, and
will complete that entire union of opinion which gives to a nation the
blessing of harmony and the benefit of all its strength.

I shall now enter on the duties to which my fellow-citizens have again
called me, and shall proceed in the spirit of those principles which
they have approved. I fear not that any motives of interest may lead me
astray; I am sensible of no passion which could seduce me knowingly from
the path of justice, but the weaknesses of human nature and the limits
of my own understanding will produce errors of judgment sometimes
injurious to your interests. I shall need, therefore, all the indulgence
which I have heretofore experienced from my constituents; the want of it
will certainly not lessen with increasing years. I shall need, too, the
favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as
Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country
flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered
our infancy with His providence and our riper years with His wisdom and
power, and to whose goodness I ask you to join in supplications with me
that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their
councils, and prosper their measures that whatsoever they do shall
result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and
approbation of all nations.

* * * * *

JAMES MADISON FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS

SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1809

[Transcriber's note: Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath
of office in the Hall of the House of Representatives (now National
Statuary Hall). Subsequently the oath by Presidents-elect, with few
exceptions, was taken in the House Chamber or in a place of the Capitol
associated with the Congress as a whole. The Vice Presidential oath of
office for most administrations was taken in the Senate Chamber.
President Jefferson watched the ceremony, but he joined the crowd of
assembled visitors since he no longer was an office-holder. The mild
March weather drew a crowd of about 10,000 persons.]

Unwilling to depart from examples of the most revered authority, I avail
myself of the occasion now presented to express the profound impression
made on me by the call of my country to the station to the duties of
which I am about to pledge myself by the most solemn of sanctions. So
distinguished a mark of confidence, proceeding from the deliberate