INAUGURAL ADDRESSES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
James Madison
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS
THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1813
***
Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath of office in the
Hall of the House of Representatives. The United States was at war
with Great Britain at the time of James Madison's second
inauguration. Most of the battles had occurred at sea, and the
physical reminders of war seemed remote to the group assembled at
the Capitol. In little more than a year, however, both the Capitol
and Executive Mansion would be burned by an invading British
garrison, and the city thrown into a panic.
***
About to add the solemnity of an oath to the obligations imposed
by a second call to the station in which my country heretofore
placed me, I find in the presence of this respectable assembly an
opportunity of publicly repeating my profound sense of so
distinguished a confidence and of the responsibility united with
it. The impressions on me are strengthened by such an evidence
that my faithful endeavors to discharge my arduous duties have
been favorably estimated, and by a consideration of the momentous
period at which the trust has been renewed. From the weight and
magnitude now belonging to it I should be compelled to shrink if I
had less reliance on the support of an enlightened and generous
people, and felt less deeply a conviction that the war with a
powerful nation, which forms so prominent a feature in our
situation, is stamped with that justice which invites the smiles
of Heaven on the means of conducting it to a successful
termination.
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