o
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, ensure domestic
tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of this Union,
in their successive generations. Since the adoption of this social
compact, one of these generations has passed away. It is the work of our
forefathers. Administered by some of the most eminent men, who contributed
to its formation, through a most eventful period in the annals of the
world, and through all the vicissitudes of peace and war, incidental to
the condition of associated man, it has not disappointed the hopes and
aspirations of those illustrious benefactors of their age and nation. It
has promoted the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all; it
has, to an extent far beyond the ordinary lot of humanity, secured the
freedom and happiness of this people. We now receive it as a precious
inheritance from those to whom we are indebted for its establishment,
doubly bound by the examples which they have left us, and by the blessings
which we have enjoyed, as the fruits of their labors, to transmit the
same, unimpaired, to the succeeding generation.

"In the compass of thirty-six years, since this great national covenant
was instituted, a body of laws enacted under its authority, and in
conformity with its provisions, has unfolded its powers, and carried into
practical operation its effective energies. Subordinate departments have
distributed the executive functions in their various relations to foreign
affairs, to the revenue and expenditures, and to the military force of the
Union, by land and sea. A co-ordinate department of the judiciary has
expounded the constitution and the laws; settling, in harmonious
coincidence with the legislative will, numerous weighty questions of
construction, which the imperfection of human language had rendered
unavoidable. The year of jubilee since the first formation of our Union,
has just elapsed; that of the Declaration of our Independence is at hand.
The consummation of both was effected by this constitution. Sin