The addresses are separated by three asterisks: ***
Dates of addresses by John Quincy Adams in this eBook:
December 6, 1825
December 5, 1826
December 4, 1827
December 2, 1828
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State of the Union Address
John Quincy Adams
December 6, 1825
Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
In taking a general survey of the concerns of our beloved country, withreference to subjects interesting to the common welfare, the firstsentiment which impresses itself upon the mind is of gratitude to theOmnipotent Disposer of All Good for the continuance of the signalblessings of His providence, and especially for that health which to anunusual extent has prevailed within our borders, and for that abundancewhich in the vicissitudes of the seasons has been scattered withprofusion over our land. Nor ought we less to ascribe to Him the glorythat we are permitted to enjoy the bounties of His hand in peace andtranquillity--in peace with all the other nations of the earth, intranquillity among our selves. There has, indeed, rarely been a periodin the history of civilized man in which the general condition of theChristian nations has been marked so extensively by peace andprosperity.
Europe, with a few partial and unhappy exceptions, has enjoyed tenyears of peace, during which all her Governments, what ever the theoryof their constitutions may have been, are successively taught to feelthat the end of their institution is the happiness of the people, andthat the exercise of power among men can be justified only by theblessings it confers upon those over whom it is extended.
During the same period our intercourse with all those nations has beenpacific and friendly; it so continues. Since the close of your lastsession no material variation has occurred in our relations with anyone of them. In the commercial and navigation system of Great Britainimportant changes of municipal regulation have recently been sanctionedby acts of Parliament, the effect of which upon the interests of othernations, and particularly upon ours, has not yet been fully developed.In the recent renewal of the diplomatic missions on both sides betweenthe two Governments assurances have been given and received of thecontinuance and increase of the mutual confidence and cordiality bywhich the adjustment of many points of difference had already beeneffected, and which affords the surest pledge for the ultimatesatisfactory adjustment of those which still remain open or mayhereafter arise.
The policy of the United States in their commercial intercourse withother nations has always been of the most liberal character. In themutual exchange of their respective productions they have abstainedaltogether from prohibitions; they have interdicted themselves thepower of laying taxes upon exports, and when ever they have favoredtheir own shipping by special preferences or exclusive privileges intheir own ports it has been only with a view to countervail similarfavors and exclusions granted by the nations with whom we have beenengaged in traffic to their own people or shipping, and to thedisadvantage of ours. Immediately after the close of the last war aproposal was fairly made by the act of Congress of March 3rd, 1815, toall the maritime nations to lay aside the system of retaliatingrestrictions and exclusions, and to place the shipping of both p