was entitled to the fullest confidence of the American people.
Its decisions have been patiently waited for, and accepted as legally
conclusive by the general judgment of the public. For the present,
opinion will widely vary as to the wisdom of the several conclusions
announced by that tribunal. This is to be anticipated in every instance
where matters of dispute are made the subject of arbitration under the
forms of law. Human judgment is never unerring, and is rarely regarded
as otherwise than wrong by the unsuccessful party in the contest.

The fact that two great political parties have in this way settled a
dispute in regard to which good men differ as to the facts and the
law no less than as to the proper course to be pursued in solving the
question in controversy is an occasion for general rejoicing.

Upon one point there is entire unanimity in public sentiment--that
conflicting claims to the Presidency must be amicably and peaceably
adjusted, and that when so adjusted the general acquiescence of the
nation ought surely to follow.

It has been reserved for a government of the people, where the right of
suffrage is universal, to give to the world the first example in history
of a great nation, in the midst of the struggle of opposing parties for
power, hushing its party tumults to yield the issue of the contest to
adjustment according to the forms of law.

Looking for the guidance of that Divine Hand by which the destinies
of nations and individuals are shaped, I call upon you, Senators,
Representatives, judges, fellow-citizens, here and everywhere, to unite
with me in an earnest effort to secure to our country the blessings, not
only of material prosperity, but of justice, peace, and union--a union
depending not upon the constraint of force, but upon the loving devotion
of a free people; "and that all things may be so ordered and settled
upon the best and surest foundations that peace and happiness, truth
and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all
generations."

*****

James A. Garfield Inaugural Address Friday, March 4, 1881

Fellow-Citizens:

WE stand to-day upon an eminence which overlooks a hundred years of
national life--a century crowded with perils, but crowned with the
triumphs of liberty and law. Before continuing the onward march let us
pause on this height for a moment to strengthen our faith and renew our
hope by a glance at the pathway along which our people