Speech Transcript:

Fellow-Citizens:

Under Providence I have been called a second time to act as Executive
over this great nation. It has been my endeavor in the past to
maintain all the laws, and, so far as lay in my power, to act for the
best interests of the whole people. My best efforts will be given in
the same direction in the future, aided, I trust, by my four years'
experience in the office.

When my first term of the office of Chief Executive began, the
country had not recovered from the effects of a great internal
revolution, and three of the former States of the Union had not been
restored to their Federal relations.

It seemed to me wise that no new questions should be raised so long
as that condition of affairs existed. Therefore the past four years,
so far as I could control events, have been consumed in the effort to
restore harmony, public credit, commerce, and all the arts of peace
and progress. It is my firm conviction that the civilized world is
tending toward republicanism, or government by the people through
their chosen representatives, and that our own great Republic is
destined to be the guiding star to all others.

Under our Republic we support an army less than that of any European
power of any standing and a navy less than that of either of at least
five of them. There could be no extension of territory on the
continent which would call for an increase of this force, but rather
might such extension enable us to diminish it.

The theory of government changes with general progress. Now that the
telegraph is made available for communicating thought, together with
rapid transit by steam, all parts of a continent are made contiguous
for all purposes of government, and communication between the extreme
limits of the country made easier than it was throughout the old
thirteen States at the beginning of our national existence.

The effects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave and
make him a citizen. Yet he is not possessed of the civil rights which
citizenship should carry with it. This is wrong, and should be
corrected. To this correction I stand committed, so far as Executive
influence can avail.

Social equality is not a subject to be legislated upon, nor shall I
ask that anything be done to advance the social status of the colored
man, except to give him a fair chance to develop what there is good in
him, give him access to the schools, and when he travels let him feel
assured that his conduct will regulate the treatment and fare he will
receive.

The States lately at war with the General Government are now happily
rehabilitated, and no Executive control is exercised in any one of
them that would not be exercised in any other State under like
circumstances.

In the first year of the past Administration the proposition came up
for the admission of Santo Domingo as a Territory of the Union. It
was not a question of my seeking, but was a proposition from the
people of Santo Domingo, and which I entertained. I believe now, as I
did then, that it was for the best interest of this country, for the
people of Santo Domingo, and all concerned that the proposition
should be received favorably. It was, however, rejected
constitutionally, and therefore the subject was never brought up
again by me.

In future, while I hold my present office, the subject of acquisition
of territory must have the support of the people before I will
recommend any proposition looking to such acquisition. I say here,
however, that I do not share in the apprehension held by many as to
the danger of governments becoming weakened and destroyed by reason
of their extension of territory. Commerce, education, and rapid
transit of thought and matter by telegraph and steam have changed all
this. Rather do I believe that our Great Maker is preparing the world,
in His own good time, to become one nation, speaking one language, and
when armies and navies will be no longer required.

My efforts in the future will be directed to the restoration of good
feeling between the different sections of our common country; to the
restoration of our currency to a fixed value as compared with the
world's standard of values--gold--and, if possible, to a par with it;
to the construction of cheap routes of transit throughout the land, to
the end that the products of all may find a market and leave a living
remuneration to the producer; to the maintenance of friendly
relations with all our neighbors and with distant nations; to the
reestablishment of our commerce and share in the carrying trade upon
the ocean; to the encouragement of such manufacturing industries as
can be economically pursued in this country, to the end that the
exports of home products and industries may pay for our imports--the
only sure method of returning to and permanently maintaining a specie
basis; to the elevation of labor; and, by a humane course, to bring
the aborigines of the country under the benign influences of
education and civilization. It is either this or war of
extermination: Wars of extermination, engaged in by people pursuing
commerce and all industrial pursuits, are expensive even against the
weakest people, and are demoralizing and wicked. Our superiority of
strength and advantages of civilization should make us lenient toward
the Indian. The wrong inflicted upon him should be taken into account
and the balance placed to his credit. The moral view of the question
should be considered and the question asked, Can not the Indian be
made a useful and productive member of society by proper teaching and
treatment? If the effort is made in good faith, we will stand better
before the civilized nations of the earth and in our own consciences
for having made it.

All these things are not to be accomplished by one individual, but
they will receive my support and such recommendations to Congress as
will in my judgment best serve to carry them into effect. I beg your
support and encouragement.

It has been, and is, my earnest desire to correct abuses that have
grown up in the civil service of the country. To secure this
reformation rules regulating methods of appointment and promotions
were established and have been tried. My efforts for such reformation
shall be continued to the best of my judgment. The spirit of the rules
adopted will be maintained.

I acknowledge before this assemblage, representing, as it does, every
section of our country, the obligation I am under to my countrymen for
the great honor they have conferred on me by returning me to the
highest office within their gift, and the further obligation resting
on me to render to them the best services within my power. This I
promise, looking forward with the greatest anxiety to the day when I
shall be released from responsibilities that at times are almost
overwhelming, and from which I have scarcely had a respite since the
eventful firing upon Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, to the present day.
My services were then tendered and accepted under the first call for
troops growing out of that event.

I did not ask for place or position, and was entirely without
influence or the acquaintance of persons of influence, but was
resolved to perform my part in a struggle threatening the very
existence of the nation. I performed a conscientious duty, without
asking promotion or command, and without a revengeful feeling toward
any section or individual.

Notwithstanding this, throughout the war, and from my candidacy for
my present office in 1868 to the close of the last Presidential
campaign, I have been the subject of abuse and slander scarcely ever
equaled in political history, which to-day I feel that I can afford
to disregard in view of your verdict, which I gratefully accept as my
vindication.