state with frankness the principles which guide my conduct, and
their application to the present state of affairs, well aware that the
efficiency of my labors will in a great measure depend on your and their
undivided approbation.

The Union of the United States of America was intended by its authors to
last as long as the States themselves shall last. "The Union shall be
perpetual" are the words of the Confederation. "To form a more perfect
Union," by an ordinance of the people of the United States, is the
declared purpose of the Constitution. The hand of Divine Providence was
never more plainly visible in the affairs of men than in the framing and
the adopting of that instrument. It is beyond comparison the greatest
event in American history, and, indeed, is it not of all events in
modern times the most pregnant with consequences for every people of the
earth? The members of the Convention which prepared it brought to their
work the experience of the Confederation, of their several States, and
of other republican governments, old and new; but they needed and they
obtained a wisdom superior to experience. And when for its validity it
required the approval of a people that occupied a large part of a
continent and acted separately in many distinct conventions, what is
more wonderful than that, after earnest contention and long discussion,
all feelings and all opinions were ultimately drawn in one way to its
support? The Constitution to which life was thus imparted contains
within itself ample resources for its own preservation. It has power
to enforce the laws, punish treason, and insure domestic tranquillity.
In case of the usurpation of the government of a State by one man or
an oligarchy, it becomes a duty of the United States to make good the
guaranty to that State of a republican form of government, and so to
maintain the homogeneousness of all. Does the lapse of time reveal
defects? A simple mode of amendment is provided in the Constitution
itself, so that its conditions can always be made to conform to the
requirements of advancing civilization. No room is allowed even for the
thought of a possibility of its coming to an end. And these powers of
self-preservation have always been asserted in their complete integrity
by every patriotic Chief Magistrate--by Jefferson and Jackson not less
than by Washington and Madison. The parting advice of the Father of his
Country, while yet President, to the people of the United S