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Show '-162 INAUGURAL AND FAREWELL ADDRESSES. when we hear cold calculations about the valnc of the Union I and have so constantly before us a line of conduct so well calculut ed to weaken its tics. ~rhcrc is too much at stake to u1low pride or passion to influence your decision. :Never for a moment believe that the gr ·at body of the citizen · of any State or Stntes can deliberately iutend to do wrong. ~rh ey may, under the influence of temporary excitement or mi ·o·niucd opinions, commit mistake ; they may be misled for a Lime by the suggestions of self-interest; but, in a community so enlightened and patriotic as the peo ple of the United States, argnment will soon make them, en .. ible of their errors; and when co nvinced, they will be rca<ly to repair them. If they huYe no higher or better motive. to govern them, they will at least perceive that their own interest requires them to be just to others, as they hope to receive justice at their hands. But, in order to maintain the Union unimpaired, it is absoltJtely necessary that the laws passed by the constituted authot·ities should be faithfully exccuteu in every part of the country, and that every good citizen should, at all times, stand ready to put down, with the combined force of the nation, cv ry atlcmpt at unlawful rcsi. lance, nuder whatever pretext it may be made, or whatever hape it rnay as ·twle. Uncon titulional ot· oppressive Jaws may, no donbt, be pas. cd by Congress, either from erroneous views, or the want of due consideration; if they arc within the reach of judicial authority, the- remedy is cay and peaceful; aucl if, from the chnrnctcr of the lnw, it is an abuse of power not within the control of the jndiciary, then fl'cc discus ·ion and calm appeals to reason and to the jnstice of the people will not fail to redress the wrong. Bnt until the Jaw shall be d •clnrcd void by the courts, or repealed hy Congre. s, no individual, or combination of individual , can be justified in forcibly rc isting its execution. It is impossible that any government can continue to exist npon any other prin- INAUGURAL AND ~,AREWELL ADDRESSES. 463 ciples. It would cease to be a government, and be unworthy of the name, if it had not the power to cuforcc the execution of its own laws within its own sphere of action. It is true that cases may be imagined disclosing ·nch a settled purpose of usurpation and oppres. ion, on the part of the govcmmcnt, as would ju ·Lify an appeal to al'ln,'. 'rhesc, however, are extreme ca c., "vhich we have no reason to apprehend in a goverumcnt where the power is in the bands of a patriotic people; and no citizen who loves his country would, in any case w hatcvcr, resort to forcible rc! listancc, uuless he clearly saw that the time had come when a freeman should prefer death to submission ; for if such a struggle is once begun, and the citizens of one section of the country arc arrayed in arms against those of another in doubtful conflict, let the battle resul t as it may, there will be an end of the Union, and with it an end to the hopes of fr·cedom. 'rhe victory of the injured would not secure to them tllC blessings of liberty; it would avcnO'c their wrongs, but they would themselves share in Lire common nrin. But the Constitution cannot be maintained, nor the Union preserved, in oppo ·ilion to public feeling, by the mere exertion of the coercive powers confided to the general government. The foundations must be laid in the affections of the people; in the security it gives to life, liberty, character, and pr·operty, in every quarLcr of the country; ami in the fraternal attachment which the citizens of the several SLates bear to one another, as members of one political family, mutually contl'ibuting to promote the happine s of each other. Hence, the citizens of every State should tuclionsly avoid everything calculated to wound the sen. ibility or offend the jnRt pride of the people of other States; and they hould frown upon any proceedings within their own borders likely to disturb the tranquillity of their political brethren in other portions of the Union. In a cou11try so extensive as the United States, and with pursuits so varied, the internal regu- |
