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to enter the Union. The new States were admitted into the Union upon an equal footing with the old States, and are equally bound by the terms of the compact. Any attempt on the part of the Federal Government to act upon the subject of slavery, as it exists within the States, would be a clear infraction of the Constitution; and to disturb it within the District of Columbia, would be a palpable violation of the public faith, as well as of the clear meaning and obvious intention of the framers of the Constitution. They intended to leave, and they did in fact leave, the subject to the exclusive regulation and action of the States and Territories within which slavery existed or might exist. They intended to place, and they did in fact place it, beyond the pale of action within the constitutional power of the Federal Government. No power has been conferred upon the Federal Government, either by express grant or necessary implication, to take cǝgnizance of, or in any manner or to any extent to interfere with, or to act upon the subject of domestic slavery, the existence of which in many of the States is expressly recognized by the Constitution of the United States.

Whether the agitation we have recently witnessed upon this delicate and disturbing subject has proceeded from mistaken philanthropy, as may have been the case with a few misguided persons; or whether there is, I regret to say, but too much reason to fear, from a desire on the part of many persons, who manifest by their conduct a reckless disregard of the harmony of the Union and of the public good, to convert it into a political engine, with a view to control elections, its progress should be firmly resisted by all the constitutional means within the power of the State. The most casual observer of passing events cannot fail to have seen that modern Abolitionism, with rare and few exceptions among its advocates, has become, to a great extent, purely a political question. That many of the leading abolitionists are active political partisans, fully identified with, and constituting

no inconsiderable part of, one of the political parties of the country, can no longer admit of doubt. They address themselves to the prepossessions and prejudices of the community in which they live, against slavery in the abstract, and, availing themselves of these prepossessions and prejudices, are struggling to control political events. All the lovers of the Union of the States, and all patriotic citizens, whether of the slaveholding or non-slaveholding States, who are ardently attached to our free institutions, must view with indignant reprobation the use made of such an unholy agitation with such objects. The attempts made to introduce it for discussion into the Federal Legislature have been met in the proper spirit, not only by Southern Representatives, but by a large portion of the Northern delegation in Congress. It is fortunate for the country, that, in the midst of this agitation, there is at the head of the Federal Government a Chief Magistrate who, in the patriotic discharge of his high duties, has placed the seal of his unqualified condemnation upon any attempted action by Congress upon the subject of slavery in any manner, or to any extent, whether existing within the States or within the District of Columbia. That he deserves and will receive the support of the States and of the people, in every portion of the Union, in maintaining his uncompromising and publicly declared determination to preserve inviolate the compromises of the Federal Constitution and the reserved rights of the slaveholding States on this subject, cannot be doubted.

In regard to other powers, which at different times the Federal Government has assumed, or attempted to exercise, the same reasoning may be applied. Among these may be enumerated the power assumed to construct works of Internal Improvements within the States, by means of appropriations drawn from the National Treasury; the power of "abridging the freedom of speech," secured by the Constitution to every citizen, by enacting laws to suppress alleged sedition, or the more recent attempts to enact them under

the more plausible pretence of "securing the freedom of elections."

I shall most cheerfully coöperate with the Legislative and Judicial Departments of the State Government, by all the constitutional and legal means within the competency of the Executive, in their efforts to confine the action of the State within proper limits, and to resist the encroachments of the Federal Government, upon her reserved rights of sovereignty.

I shall as cheerfully coöperate with them in all such measures as shall be calculated to insure economy in the expenditures of the State Government, strict accountability on the part of public officers, the promotion of virtue, the suppression of crime, and the development of the wealth, the resources, and the energies of the State.

The revised Constitution under which we are acting has infused into the administration of the State Government more of the Democratic principle of immediate and direct agency by the people than existed under the former Constitution. Instead of delegating, as the old Constitution did, the power of appointing many important ministerial and municipal officers to the judicial tribunals and other appointing agents, the people are now their own agents, and make the appointments by popular elections. The higher judicial functionaries hold their offices by a tenure restricted to a term of years, and not, as formerly, by the tenure for life. These are important changes in the fundamental law of the State. In practice they have, thus far, produced no inconvenience, but have worked well.

In the administration of the State Government I regard it fortunate that there are but few subjects of internal policy upon which there exists much diversity of opinion. The encouragement of a "well-regulated system of Internal Improvement," and the promotion of "knowledge, learning, and virtue," as "being essential to the preservation of Republican institutions," are duties imposed by the Constitution of the

State upon her public functionaries, which they are not at liberty to disregard. Under the deep conviction that these are subjects of general and pervading interest to the whole people of the State, I shall regard it to be my duty to lend my aid in executing the injunctions of the Constitution in a liberal spirit. No objects are, in my judgment, more worthy of the public patronage and support.

The preservation of public credit, and of a sound currency in the State, will undoubtedly be among our highest duties. It is a prevailing error to suppose that a multiplication of banks, and an excessive issue of paper circulation, can advance the public prosperity, or afford any permanent relief to the community in which they exist. Instead of a blessing, excessive banking generally proves to be a curse. The bloated state of apparent prosperity which they temporarily excite, our experience has shown, has invariably been followed by derangement of the money market, depreciation of the currency, and finally by severe pressure and suffering inflicted on the people. To prevent the recurrence of such a state of things, it will be my desire, by all the constitutional and legal restrictions which can be thrown around them, to see that the banks which may exist in the State, shall be based upon a solid foundation, and confine their operations within their reasonable means to meet their responsibilities promptly. I will, at an early day, avail myself of an appropriate occasion to make to the General Assembly of the State, now in session, a communication touching subjects which may seem to require legislative action at their present session.

It will be my duty, under the Constitution of the State, to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." The Executive is vested with no legislative discretion or power. The laws which the General Assembly shall pass, it is made his duty to execute, even though he may differ in opinion with that branch of the State Government in regard to

their wisdom or policy. This duty I shall faithfully per

form.

Relying confidently upon the support of my fellow-citizens, and invoking the aid and guidance of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, in whose hands are the destinies of government, and of men, I enter upon the discharge of the high duties which have been assigned me by the people.

By the amended constitution of Tennessee, provision was made for such works of internal improvement as the geographical position of the state rendered necessary; and in his first regular message, delivered to the two houses of the General Assembly on the 22d of October, 1839, Governor Polk advised the "vigorous prosecution of a judicious system of improvements," and that " a board of public works, to be composed of two or more competent and scientific men, should be authorized, and their duties established by law."

In the same message he recommended the revision of the laws prohibiting the practice of betting on elections, which, he says, "begets excitement and engenders strife; and it but too often happens, that those who have stakes at hazard, become more interested to secure them, than by a dispassionate exercise of the right of suffrage, to secure the public good."

Of unwise or irresponsible issues of paper money, or paper credits intended for circulation as money, he was always jealous; and in his second regular message to the legislature, in 1841, he advised "a revision of the laws prohibiting the issuance of change tickets or small paper bills, by individuals and corporations other than banks," for the reason, as stated by him, that "some of

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