Message from the President of the United States to the two houses of Congress at the commencement of the Second Session of the Twenty-Eighth Congress. December 3, 1844. Page: 4 of 129
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[1 ] 4
it is, that, unlike what might be the results under a consolidated system, riotous
proceedings, should they prevail, could only affect.the elections in single
States, without disturbing, to any dangerous extent, the tranquillity of
others.
The great experiment of a political confederacy-each member of which
is supreme as to all matters appertaining to its local interests and its in- j
ternal peace and happiness, while by a voluntary compact with others it
confides to the united power of all the protection of its citizens in matters
not domestic-has been so far crowned with complete success. The world
has Witnessed its rapid growth in wealth and population; and, under the
guide and direction of a superintending Providence, the developments of
the past may be regarded but as the shadowing forth of the mighty future.
In the bright prospects of that future, we shall find, as patriots and philanthropists,
the highest inducements to cultivate and cherish a love of union,
and to frown down every measure or effort which may be made to alienate
the States, or the people of the States, in sentiment and feeling, from each
other. A rigid and close adherence to the terms of our political compact,
and, above all, a sacred observance of the guaranties of the Constitution,
will preserve union on a foundation which cannot be shaken, while personal
liberty is placed beyond hazard or jeopardy. The guaranty of religious
freedom, of the freedom of the press, of the liberty of speecht of the
trial by jury, of the habeas corpus, and of the domestic institutions of each
of the States-leaving the private citizen in the full exercise of the high
and ennobling attributes of his nature, and to each State the privilege,
which can only be judiciously exerted by itself, of consulting the means
best calculated to advance its own happiness; these are the great and important
guaranties of the Constitution, which the lovers of liberty niust
cherish, and the advocates of union must ever cultivate. Preserving these,,
and avoiding all interpolations, by forced construction, under the guise of
an imagined expediency, upon the Constitution, the influence of otir political
systemlis destined to be as actively and as beneficially felt on the distant
shores of the Pacific, as it is now on those of the Atlantic ocean. The
only formidable impediments in the way of its successful expansion (time
and space) are so far in the progress of modification, by the improvements
of the age, as to render no longer speculative the ability of Representatives
from that remote region to come up to the Capitol, so that their constituents
shall participate in all the benefits of Federal legislation. Thus it is
that, in the progress of time, the inestimable principles of civil liberty will is
be enjoyed by millions yet unborn, and the great benefits of our system of
Government be extended to now distant and uninhabited regions. In view
of the vast wilderness yet to be reclaimed, we may well invite the lover of
freedom, of every land, to take up his abode among us, and assist us in the
great work of advancing the standard of civilization, and giving a wider
spread to the arts and refinements of cultivated life. Our prayers should'
evermore be offered up to the Father of the Universe, for his wisdom- to
direct us in the path of our duty, so as to enable us to consummate these
high purposes.
One of the strongest objections which has been urged against con- 'I
federacies, by writers on Government, is, the liability of the members'
to be tampered with' by foreign Governments, or the people of for-:
eign States, either in their local affairs, or, in such as affected the
peace of others, or endangered the safety of the whole Confedera
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United States. President (1841-1845 : Tyler). Message from the President of the United States to the two houses of Congress at the commencement of the Second Session of the Twenty-Eighth Congress. December 3, 1844., book, 1844; Washington. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5829/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .