State of the Union Addresses
- Pages
- about 139
- Category
- History
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 2.5 h at 250 wpm
From the opening
December 4, 1865
December 3, 1866
December 3, 1867
December 9, 1868
To express gratitude to God in the name of the people for the
preservation of the United States is my first duty in addressing you.
Our thoughts next revert to the death of the late President by an act
of parricidal treason. The grief of the nation is still fresh. It finds
some solace in the consideration that he lived to enjoy the highest
proof of its confidence by entering on the renewed term of the Chief
Magistracy to which he had been elected; that he brought the civil war
substantially to a close; that his loss was deplored in all parts of
the Union, and that foreign nations have rendered justice to his
memory. His removal cast upon me a heavier weight of cares than ever
devolved upon any one of his predecessors. To fulfill my trust I need
the support and confidence of all who are associated with me in the
various departments of Government and the support and confidence of the
people. There is but one way in which I can hope to gain their
necessary aid. It is to 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.
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