Speech Transcript:

Citizens of the United States:

Your suffrages having elected me to the office of President of the
United States, I have, in conformity to the Constitution of our
country, taken the oath of office prescribed therein. I have taken
this oath without mental reservation and with the determination to do
to the best of my ability all that is required of me. The
responsibilities of the position I feel, but accept them without
fear. The office has come to me unsought; I commence its duties
untrammeled. I bring to it a conscious desire and determination to
fill it to the best of my ability to the satisfaction of the people.

On all leading questions agitating the public mind I will always
express my views to Congress and urge them according to my judgment,
and when I think it advisable will exercise the constitutional
privilege of interposing a veto to defeat measures which I oppose;
but all laws will be faithfully executed, whether they meet my
approval or not.

I shall on all subjects have a policy to recommend, but none to
enforce against the will of the people. Laws are to govern all
alike--those opposed as well as those who favor them. I know no
method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as
their stringent execution.

The country having just emerged from a great rebellion, many
questions will come before it for settlement in the next four years
which preceding Administrations have never had to deal with. In
meeting these it is desirable that they should be approached calmly,
without prejudice, hate, or sectional pride, remembering that the
greatest good to the greatest number is the object to be attained.

This requires security of person, property, and free religious and
political opinion in every part of our common country, without regard
to local prejudice. All laws to secure these ends will receive my best
efforts for their enforcement.

A great debt has been contracted in securing to us and our posterity
the Union. The payment of this, principal and interest, as well as
the return to a specie basis as soon as it can be accomplished
without material detriment to the debtor class or to the country at
large, must be provided for. To protect the national honor, every
dollar of Government indebtedness should be paid in gold, unless
otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. Let it be understood
that no repudiator of one farthing of our public debt will be trusted
in public place, and it will go far toward strengthening a credit
which ought to be the best in the world, and will ultimately enable
us to replace the debt with bonds bearing less interest than we now
pay. To this should be added a faithful collection of the revenue, a
strict accountability to the Treasury for every dollar collected, and
the greatest practicable retrenchment in expenditure in every
department of Government.

When we compare the paying capacity of the country now, with the ten
States in poverty from the effects of war, but soon to emerge, I
trust, into greater prosperity than ever before, with its paying
capacity twenty-five years ago, and calculate what it probably will
be twenty-five years hence, who can doubt the feasibility of paying
every dollar then with more ease than we now pay for useless
luxuries? Why, it looks as though Providence had bestowed upon us a
strong box in the precious metals locked up in the sterile mountains
of the far West, and which we are now forging the key to unlock, to
meet the very contingency that is now upon us.

Ultimately it may be necessary to insure the facilities to reach
these riches and it may be necessary also that the General Government
should give its aid to secure this access; but that should only be
when a dollar of obligation to pay secures precisely the same sort of
dollar to use now, and not before. Whilst the question of specie
payments is in abeyance the prudent business man is careful about
contracting debts payable in the distant future. The nation should
follow the same rule. A prostrate commerce is to be rebuilt and all
industries encouraged.

The young men of the country--those who from their age must be its
rulers twenty-five years hence--have a peculiar interest in
maintaining the national honor. A moment's reflection as to what will
be our commanding influence among the nations of the earth in their
day, if they are only true to themselves, should inspire them with
national pride. All divisions--geographical, political, and
religious--can join in this common sentiment. How the public debt is
to be paid or specie payments resumed is not so important as that a
plan should be adopted and acquiesced in. A united determination to
do is worth more than divided counsels upon the method of doing.
Legislation upon this subject may not be necessary now, or even
advisable, but it will be when the civil law is more fully restored
in all parts of the country and trade resumes its wonted channels.

It will be my endeavor to execute all laws in good faith, to collect
all revenues assessed, and to have them properly accounted for and
economically disbursed. I will to the best of my ability appoint to
office those only who will carry out this design.

In regard to foreign policy, I would deal with nations as equitable
law requires individuals to deal with each other, and I would protect
the law-abiding citizen, whether of native or foreign birth, wherever
his rights are jeopardized or the flag of our country floats. I would
respect the rights of all nations, demanding equal respect for our
own. If others depart from this rule in their dealings with us, we
may be compelled to follow their precedent.

The proper treatment of the original occupants of this land--the
Indians one deserving of careful study. I will favor any course
toward them which tends to their civilization and ultimate
citizenship.

The question of suffrage is one which is likely to agitate the public
so long as a portion of the citizens of the nation are excluded from
its privileges in any State. It seems to me very desirable that this
question should be settled now, and I entertain the hope and express
the desire that it may be by the ratification of the fifteenth
article of amendment to the Constitution.

In conclusion I ask patient forbearance one toward another throughout
the land, and a determined effort on the part of every citizen to do
his share toward cementing a happy union; and I ask the prayers of
the nation to Almighty God in behalf of this consummation.