lative authority is supreme. But here that authority
ceases, and every citizen who truly loves the Constitution and desires
the continuance of its existence and its blessings will resolutely and
firmly resist any interference in those domestic affairs which the
Constitution has clearly and unequivocally left to the exclusive
authority of the States. And every such citizen will also deprecate
useless irritation among the several members of the Union and all
reproach and crimination tending to alienate one portion of the
country from another. The beauty of our system of government consists,
and its safety and durability must consist, in avoiding mutual
collisions and encroachments and in the regular separate action of
all, while each is revolving in its own distinct orbit.

The Constitution has made it the duty of the President to take care
that the laws be faithfully executed. In a government like ours, in
which all laws are passed by a majority of the representatives of the
people, and these representatives are chosen for such short periods
that any injurious or obnoxious law can very soon be repealed, it
would appear unlikely that any great numbers should be found ready
to resist the execution of the laws. But it must be borne in mind
that the country is extensive; that there may be local interests or
prejudices rendering a law odious in one part which is not so in
another, and that the thoughtless and inconsiderate, misled by their
passions or their imaginations, may be induced madly to resist such
laws as they disapprove. Such persons should recollect that without
law there can be no real practical liberty; that when law is trampled
under foot tyranny rules, whether it appears in the form of a military
despotism or of popular violence. The law is the only sure protection
of the weak and the only efficient restraint upon the strong. When
impartially and faithfully administered, none is beneath its
protection and none above its control. You, gentlemen, and the country
may be assured that to the utmost of my ability and to the extent of
the power vested in me I shall at all times and in all places take
care that the laws be faithfully executed. In the discharge of this
duty, solemnly imposed upon me by the Constitution and by my oath of
office, I shall shrink from no responsibility, and shall endeavor to
meet events as they may arise with firmness, as well as with prudence
and discretion.

The appointing power is one