State of the Union Address

reference to the source of power. Fortunately, under this system noman is so high and none so humble in the scale of public station as toescape from the scrutiny or to be exempt from the responsibility which allofficial functions imply.Upon the justice and intelligence of the masses, in a government thusorganized, is the sole reliance of the confederacy and the only securityfor honest and earnest devotion to its interests against the usurpationsand encroachment of power on the one hand and the assaults of personalambition on the other.The interest of which I have spoken is inseparable from an inquiring,self-governing community, but stimulated, doubtless, at the present time bythe unsettled condition of our relations with several foreign powers, bythe new obligations resulting from a sudden extension of the field ofenterprise, by the spirit with which that field has been entered and theamazing energy with which its resources for meeting the demands of humanityhave been developed.Although disease, assuming at one time the characteristics of a widespreadand devastating pestilence, has left its sad traces upon some portions ofour country, we have still the most abundant cause for reverentthankfulness to God for an accumulation of signal mercies showered upon usas a nation. It is well that a consciousness of rapid advancement andincreasing strength be habitually associated with an abiding sense ofdependence upon Him who holds in His hands the destiny of men and of --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.