tuesday， march 4， 1817
i should be destitute of feeling if i was not deeply affected by the strong proof which my fellow-citizens have given me of their confidence in calling me to the high office whose functions i am about to assume. as the expression of their good opinion of my conduct in the public service， i derive from it a gratification which those who are conscious of having done all that they could to merit it can alone feel. my sensibility is increased by a just estimate of the importance of the trust and of the nature and extent of its duties， with the proper discharge of which the highest interests of a great and free people are intimately connected. conscious of my own deficiency， i cannot enter on these duties without great anxiety for the result. from a just responsibility i will never shrink， calculating with confidence that in my best efforts to promote the public welfare my motives will always be duly appreciated and my conduct be viewed with that candor and indulgence which i have experienced in other stations.
in commencing the duties of the chief executive office it has been the practice of the distinguished men who have gone before me to explain the principles which would govern them in their respective administrations. in following their venerated example my attention is naturally drawn to the great causes which have contributed in a principal degree to produce the present happy condition of the united states. they will best expla
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