m with despondence one who,
inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and unpracticed in the
duties of civil administration, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his
own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions, all I dare aver is, that
it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just
appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I
dare hope is, that if, in executing this task, I have been too much
swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by any
affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of
my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity
as well as disinclination, for the weighty and untried cares before me,
my error will be palliated by the motives which misled me, and its
consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality
with which they originated.

Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the
public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly
improper to omit in this first official act, my fervent supplications to
that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the
councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human
defect that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and
happiness of the people of the United States, a government instituted by
themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument
employed in its administration to execute with success the functions
allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the great author of
every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your
sentiments, not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at
large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore
the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the
people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to
the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished
by some token of providential agency, and in the important revolution
just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil
deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from
which the event has resulted cannot be compared with the means by which
most governments have been established without some return of pious
gratitude along with a humble anticipation of the future blessings which
the past seem to presa