Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far as
they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal
Government, are of high importance.
Considering standing armies as dangerous to free governments in
time of peace, I shall not seek to enlarge our present
establishment, nor disregard that salutary lesson of political
experience which teaches that the military should be held
subordinate to the civil power. The gradual increase of our Navy,
whose flag has displayed in distant climes our skill in navigation
and our fame in arms; the preservation of our forts, arsenals, and
dockyards, and the introduction of progressive improvements in the
discipline and science of both branches of our military service
are so plainly prescribed by prudence that I should be excused for
omitting their mention sooner than for enlarging on their
importance. But the bulwark of our defense is the national
militia, which in the present state of our intelligence and
population must render us invincible. As long as our Government is
administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their
will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and of
property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth
defending; and so long as it is worth defending a patriotic
militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis.
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