Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VIII.: James A. Garfield | Page 4

first written constitution of the United States--the Articles of
Confederation and Perpetual Union. The new Republic was then beset
with danger on every hand. It had not conquered a place in the family
of nations. The decisive battle of the war for independence, whose
centennial anniversary will soon be gratefully celebrated at Yorktown,
had not yet been fought. The colonists were struggling not only against
the armies of a great nation, but against the settled opinions of mankind;

for the world did not then believe that the supreme authority of
government could be safely intrusted to the guardianship of the people
themselves.
We can not overestimate the fervent love of liberty, the intelligent
courage, and the sum of common sense with which our fathers made
the great experiment of self-government. When they found, after a
short trial, that the confederacy of States was too weak to meet the
necessities of a vigorous and expanding republic, they boldly set it
aside, and in its stead established a National Union, founded directly
upon the will of the people, endowed with full power of
self-preservation and ample authority for the accomplishment of its
great object.
Under this Constitution the boundaries of freedom have been enlarged,
the foundations of order and peace have been strengthened, and the
growth of our people in all the better elements of national life has
indicated the wisdom of the founders and given new hope to their
descendants. Under this Constitution our people long ago made
themselves safe against danger from without and secured for their
mariners and flag equality of rights on all the seas. Under this
Constitution twenty-five States have been added to the Union, with
constitutions and laws, framed and enforced by their own citizens, to
secure the manifold blessings of local self-government.
The jurisdiction of this Constitution now covers an area fifty times
greater than that of the original thirteen States and a population twenty
times greater than that of 1780.
The supreme trial of the Constitution came at last under the tremendous
pressure of civil war. We ourselves are witnesses that the Union
emerged from the blood and fire of that conflict purified and made
stronger for all the beneficent purposes of good government.
And now, at the close of this first century of growth, with the
inspirations of its history in their hearts, our people have lately
reviewed the condition of the nation, passed judgment upon the
conduct and opinions of political parties, and have registered their will
concerning the future administration of the Government. To interpret
and to execute that will in accordance with the Constitution is the
paramount duty of the Executive.
Even from this brief review it is manifest that the nation is resolutely

facing to the front, resolved to employ its best energies in developing
the great possibilities of the future. Sacredly preserving whatever has
been gained to liberty and good government during the century, our
people are determined to leave behind them all those bitter
controversies concerning things which have been irrevocably settled,
and the further discussion of which can only stir up strife and delay the
onward march.
The supremacy of the nation and its laws should be no longer a subject
of debate. That discussion, which for half a century threatened the
existence of the Union, was closed at last in the high court of war by a
decree from which there is no appeal--that the Constitution and the
laws made in pursuance thereof are and shall continue to be the
supreme law of the land, binding alike upon the States and the people.
This decree does not disturb the autonomy of the States nor interfere
with any of their necessary rights of local self-government, but it does
fix and establish the permanent supremacy of the Union.
The will of the nation, speaking with the voice of battle and through the
amended Constitution, has fulfilled the great promise of 1776 by
proclaiming "liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof."
The elevation of the negro race from slavery to the full rights of
citizenship is the most important political change we have known since
the adoption of the Constitution of 1787. No thoughtful man can fail to
appreciate its beneficent effect upon our institutions and people. It has
freed us from the perpetual danger of war and dissolution. It has added
immensely to the moral and industrial forces of our people. It has
liberated the master as well as the slave from a relation which wronged
and enfeebled both. It has surrendered to their own guardianship the
manhood of more than 5,000,000 people, and has opened to each one of
them a career of freedom and usefulness. It has given new inspiration to
the power of self-help in both races by making labor more honorable to
the