very State
will feel its own obligation to respect and preserve the rights of the
whole. The prejudices everywhere too commonly entertained against distant
strangers are worn away, and the jealousies of jarring interests are
allayed, by the composition and functions of the great national councils,
annually assembled, from all quarters of the Union, at this place. Here
the distinguished men from every section of our country, while meeting to
deliberate upon the great interests of those by whom they are deputed,
learn to estimate the talents, and do justice to the virtues, of each
other. The harmony of the nation is promoted, and the whole Union is knit
together by the sentiments of mutual respect, the habits of social
intercourse, and the ties of personal friendship, formed between the
representatives of its several parts in the performance of their service
at this metropolis.

"Passing from this general review of the purposes and injunctions of the
Federal constitution and their results, as indicating the first traces of
the path of duty in the discharge of my public trust, I turn to the
administration of my immediate predecessor, as the second. It has passed
away in a period of profound peace: how much to the satisfaction of our
country, and to the honor of our country's name, is known to you all. The
great features of its policy, in general concurrence with the will of the
Legislature, have been--To cherish peace while preparing for defensive war
to yield exact justice to other nations, and maintain the rights of our
own--to cherish the principles of freedom and equal rights, wherever they
were proclaimed--to discharge, with all possible promptitude, the national
debt--to reduce within the narrowest limits of efficiency the military
force--to improve the organization and discipline of the army--to provide
and sustain a school of military science--to extend equal protection to
all the great interests of the nation--to promote the civilization of the
Indian tribes; and to proceed to the great system of internal
improvements, within the limits of the constitutional power of the Union.
Under the pledge of these promises, made by that eminent citizen at the
time of his first induction to this office, in his career of eight years
the internal taxes have been repealed; sixty millions of the public debt
have been discharged; provision has been made for the comfort and relief
of the aged and indigent among the surviving warrior