The addresses are separated by three asterisks: ***
Dates of addresses by James Polk in this eBook:
December 2, 1845
December 8, 1846
December 7, 1847
December 5, 1848
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State of the Union Address
James Polk
December 2, 1845
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
It is to me a source of unaffected satisfaction to meet the representativesof the States and the people in Congress assembled, as it will be toreceive the aid of their combined wisdom in the administration of publicaffairs. In performing for the first time the duty imposed on me by theConstitution of giving to you information of the state of the Union andrecommending to your consideration such measures as in my judgment arenecessary and expedient, I am happy that I can congratulate you on thecontinued prosperity of our country. Under the blessings of DivineProvidence and the benign influence of our free institutions, it standsbefore the world a spectacle of national happiness.
With our unexampled advancement in all the elements of national greatness,the affection of the people is confirmed for the Union of the States andfor the doctrines of popular liberty which lie at the foundation of ourGovernment.
It becomes us in humility to make our devout acknowledgments to the SupremeRuler of the Universe for the inestimable civil and religious blessingswith which we are favored.
In calling the attention of Congress to our relations with foreign powers,I am gratified to be able to state that though with some of them there haveexisted since your last session serious causes of irritation andmisunderstanding, yet no actual hostilities have taken place. Adopting themaxim in the conduct of our foreign affairs "to ask nothing that is notright and submit to nothing that is wrong," it has been my anxious desireto preserve peace with all nations, but at the same time to be prepared toresist aggression and maintain all our just rights.
In pursuance of the joint resolution of Congress "for annexing Texas to theUnited States," my predecessor, on the 3d day of March, 1845, elected tosubmit the first and second sections of that resolution to the Republic ofTexas as an overture on the part of the United States for her admission asa State into our Union. This election I approved, and accordingly thecharge d'affaires of the United States in Texas, under instructions of the10th of March, 1845, presented these sections of the resolution for theacceptance of that Republic. The executive government, the Congress, andthe people of Texas in convention have successively complied with all theterms and conditions of the joint resolution. A constitution for thegovernment of the State of Texas, formed by a convention of deputies, isherewith laid before Congress. It is well known, also, that the people ofTexas at the polls have accepted the terms of annexation and ratified theconstitution. I communicate to Congress the correspondence between theSecretary of State and our charge d'affaires in Texas, and also thecorrespondence of the latter with the authorities of Texas, together withthe official documents transmitted by him to his own Government. The termsof annexation which were offered by the United States having been acceptedby Texas, the public faith of both parties is solemnly pledged to thecompact of their union. Nothing remains to consummat