The addresses are separated by three asterisks: ***
Dates of addresses by Franklin Pierce in this eBook:
December 5, 1853
December 4, 1854
December 31, 1855
December 2, 1856
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State of the Union Address
Franklin Pierce
December 5, 1853
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The interest with which the people of the Republic anticipate theassembling of Congress and the fulfillment on that occasion of the dutyimposed upon a new President is one of the best evidences of their capacityto realize the hopes of the founders of a political system at once complexand symmetrical. While the different branches of the Government are to acertain extent independent of each other, the duties of all alike havedirect reference to the source of power. Fortunately, under this system noman is so high and none so humble in the scale of public station as toescape from the scrutiny or to be exempt from the responsibility which allofficial functions imply.
Upon the justice and intelligence of the masses, in a government thusorganized, is the sole reliance of the confederacy and the only securityfor honest and earnest devotion to its interests against the usurpationsand encroachment of power on the one hand and the assaults of personalambition on the other.
The interest of which I have spoken is inseparable from an inquiring,self-governing community, but stimulated, doubtless, at the present time bythe unsettled condition of our relations with several foreign powers, bythe new obligations resulting from a sudden extension of the field ofenterprise, by the spirit with which that field has been entered and theamazing energy with which its resources for meeting the demands of humanityhave been developed.
Although disease, assuming at one time the characteristics of a widespreadand devastating pestilence, has left its sad traces upon some portions ofour country, we have still the most abundant cause for reverentthankfulness to God for an accumulation of signal mercies showered upon usas a nation. It is well that a consciousness of rapid advancement andincreasing strength be habitually associated with an abiding sense ofdependence upon Him who holds in His hands the destiny of men and ofnations.
Recognizing the wisdom of the broad principle of absolute religioustoleration proclaimed in our fundamental law, and rejoicing in the benigninfluence which it has exerted upon our social and political condition, Ishould shrink from a clear duty did I fail to express my deepest convictionthat we can place no secure reliance upon any apparent progress if it benot sustained by national integrity, resting upon the great truths affirmedand illustrated by divine revelation. In the midst of our sorrow for theafflicted and suffering, it has been consoling to see how promptly disastermade true neighbors of districts and cities separated widely from eachother, and cheering to watch the strength of that common bond ofbrotherhood which unites all hearts, in all parts of this Union, whendanger threatens from abroad or calamity impends over us at home.
Our diplomatic relations with foreign powers have undergone no essentialchange since the adjournment of the last Congress. With some of themquestions of a disturbing character are still pending, but there are goodreasons to believe that these may all be am