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I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the laws, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

Let us then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own federal and republican principles; our attachment to our union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandeth and thousandeth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed indeed and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man, acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which, by all its dispensations, proves that it delights in the happiness of man here, and his greater happiness hereafter; with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens—a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

About to enter, fellow citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend every thing dear and valuable to you, it is proper that you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our government, and consequently those which ought to shape its administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political: peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none: the support of the state governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for all our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies: the

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preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad: a jealous care of the right of election by the people; a mild and safe corrective of abuses, which are lopped by the sword of revolution, where peaceable remedies are unprovided: absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principal and immediate parent of despotism: a well disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace, and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them: the supremacy of the civil over the military authority: economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened: the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the public faith: encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid: the diffusion of information, and arrangement of all abuses at the bar of public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press; and freedom of person, under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trials by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages, and blood of our heroes, have been devoted to their attainment: they should be the creed of our political faith; the text of civil instruction; the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.

me.

I repair then, fellow citizens, to the post you have assigned With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the difficulties of this, the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you repose in our first and great revolutionary character, whose pre-eminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love, and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional; and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not, if seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage is a

consolation to me for the past; and my future solicitude will be, to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all.

Relying then on the patronage of your good will, I advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much better choices it is in your power to make. And may that infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE PRESIDENTS.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, "The Father of his Country," and first President of the United States, was born at Bridges Creek, in the county of Westmoreland, Virginia, on the 22d of February, 1732. He was elected President in 1789, which office he held eight years. He died at Mount Vernon on the 14th of December, 1799, at the age of 68 years.

JOHN ADAMS, the second President of the United States, was born at Quincy, Massachusetts, October 19, 1735. He was chosen President in 1797-continued in office four years. Died 4th of July, 1826, aged 91 years.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, the third President of the United States, and author of the Declaration of Independence, was born at Shadwell, Albemarle county, Virginia, April 2, 1743. He was elected President, 1801-continued in office eight years. Died on the 4th of July, 1826, aged 83 years.

JAMES MADISON, the fourth President of the United States, was born March 5, 1751, in Orange county, Virginia. He was elected President in 1809-continued in office eight years. Died on the 28th of June, 1837, at the age of 86 years.

JAMES MONROE, the fifth President of the United States, was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, on the 28th of April, 1758. He was chosen President in 1817-continued in office eight years. Died July 4th, 1831, at the age of 73 years.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, the sixth President of the United States, was born at Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1767. He was elected President in 1825-continued in office four years.

ANDREW JACKSON, seventh President of the United States, was born on the 15th of March, 1767, at Waxsaw, South Carolina, inaugurated President in 1829-continued in office eight years.

MARTIN VAN BUREN, the eighth President of the United States, was born on the 5th of December, 1782, at Kinderhook, Columbia county, New-York. He was elected President in 1837.

AMERICAN COAT OF ARMS.

THE device for an armorial Achievement and Reverse of a great seal for the United States in Congress assembled is as follows:

"ARMS.-Paleways of thirteen pieces, argent and gules, a chief azure; the escutcheon on the breast of the American bald eagle displayed proper, holding in his dexter talon an olive branch, and in his sinister a bundle of thirteen arrows, all proper; and in his beak a scroll inscribed with this motto, 'E pluribus unum.'

"FOR THE CREST.-Over the head of the eagle, which appears above the escutcheon, a glory, or, breaking through a cloud proper, and surrounding thirteen stars forming a constellation, argent, or an azure field.

"REVERSE.-A pyramid unfinished.

"In the zenith an eye in the triangle surrounded with a glory, proper. Over the eye these words, Annuit Coptis.'

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"On the base of the pyramid, the numerical letters MDCCLXXVI, and underneath the following motto, Novus ordo seclorum.'

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"REMARKS AND EXPLANATIONS OF THE DEVICE.-The escutcheon is composed of the chief and pale, the two most honorable ordinaries. The thirteen pieces paly represent the several states in the union, all joined in old solid compact, entire, supporting a chief which unites the whole, and represents Congress. The motto alludes to this union.

"The pales in the arms are kept closely united by the chief, and the chief depends on that union, and the strength resulting from it for its support, to denote the confederacy of the United States, and the preservation of the Union through Congress.

"The colors of the pales are those used in the flag of the United States of America. White signifies purity and innocence, red hardiness and valor, and blue, the color of the chief, signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice. The olive branch and arrows denote the power of peace and war, which is exclusively vested in Congress.

"The crest or constellation denotes a new state taking its place or rank among other sovereign powers.

"The escutcheon borne on the breast of an American eagle, without any other supporters, to denote that the United States of America ought to rely on their own virtue.

"The pyramid on the reverse signifies strength and duration. "The eye over it, and the motto (' annuit cœptis,' he prospers our endeavors,') allude to the many signal interpositions of Providence in favor of the American cause.

"The date underneath is that of the Declaration of Independence, and the words under it signify the beginning of the New American Era, which commences from that date."

General Statistics of the United States.

THE principal details pertaining to the several states, will be found in their appropriate places, in the latter part of this work. This article will therefore, be chiefly confined to such matter as relates to the general government, and to the United States in its confederate capacity.

GOVERNMENT.

The government of the United States is a Federal Representative Democracy, in which all power belongs to the people. The legislative power is vested in a Congress, composed of a Senate and House of Representatives. The Senate consists of two members from each state, chosen by the legislatures respectively, for a period of six years. The terms of service are so arranged, that one-third of the whole Senate is renewed every two years. Every senator must have attained the age of thirty years, and have been nine years a citizen of the United States, and, when elected, an inhabitant of the state from which he is chosen. The present number of senators is fifty-two. The Senate has the sole power to try impeachments. The Vice President of the United States is President of the Senate, and has a casting vote only.

The House of Representatives is composed of members elected in the several states by the people, for a term of two years. Each state is entitled, under a law passed in 1832, to send one Representative for every 47,700 inhabitants. The present number of members is 242, besides delegates from Wisconsin, Iowa, and Florida. A Representative must have attained the age of twenty-five years, and have been seven years a citizen of the United States. The pay of each member of Congress during the Session is $8 per day, and $8 for every twenty miles travel to and from the seat of government.

The President of the Senate pro tem, (who is chosen in the absence of the Vice President) and Speaker of the House of Representatives, receives $16 per day.

The House of Representatives choose their own Speaker and other officers, and have the sole power of impeachment. All bills for raising revenue must originate in the House.

No person can be a member of Congress and hold any office under the United States at the same time.

Congress has power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States :

To borrow money on the credit of the United States:

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes: To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States:

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