It seemed to me wise that no new questions should be raised so
long as that condition of affairs existed. Therefore the past four
years, so far as I could control events, have been consumed in the
effort to restore harmony, public credit, commerce, and all the
arts of peace and progress. It is my firm conviction that the
civilized world is tending toward republicanism, or government by
the people through their chosen representatives, and that our own
great Republic is destined to be the guiding star to all others.
Under our Republic we support an army less than that of any
European power of any standing and a navy less than that of either
of at least five of them. There could be no extension of territory
on the continent which would call for an increase of this force,
but rather might such extension enable us to diminish it.
The theory of government changes with general progress. Now that
the telegraph is made available for communicating thought,
together with rapid transit by steam, all parts of a continent are
made contiguous for all purposes of government, and communication
between the extreme limits of the country made easier than it was
throughout the old thirteen States at the beginning of our
national existence.
The effects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave
and make him a citizen.
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