The large
variety of diverse and competing interests subject to Federal
control, persistently seeking the recognition of their claims,
need give us no fear that "the greatest good to the greatest
number" will fail to be accomplished if in the halls of national
legislation that spirit of amity and mutual concession shall
prevail in which the Constitution had its birth. If this involves
the surrender or postponement of private interests and the
abandonment of local advantages, compensation will be found in the
assurance that the common interest is subserved and the general
welfare advanced.
In the discharge of my official duty I shall endeavor to be guided
by a just and unstrained construction of the Constitution, a
careful observance of the distinction between the powers granted
to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to
the people, and by a cautious appreciation of those functions
which by the Constitution and laws have been especially assigned
to the executive branch of the Government.
But he who takes the oath today to preserve, protect, and defend
the Constitution of the United States only assumes the solemn
obligation which every patriotic citizen--on the farm, in the
workshop, in the busy marts of trade, and everywhere--should share
with him.
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