The Nexus Archive
American Republicanism · Address
First Inaugural Address
by Thomas Jefferson · The Paradox of Liberty · American Founding, 1743-1826
Jefferson's attempt to define republican unity after a bitter election.
- Beginner
- ~10 min read
- 1 chapter guide
- Public domain
Start reading · Read the Reconciliation and Republican Government guide free
Before the text
Editor's Prelude
A Republic Survives the Election
Thomas Jefferson took office on March 4, 1801, after an election that exposed a flaw in the young republic's voting rules. He and his running mate Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes; the House chose Jefferson only on its thirty-sixth ballot. This was the first peaceful transfer of the presidency between opposing parties. The Constitution had settled who won, but not how people who distrusted one another would live under the result.
Many Federalists feared Jefferson's victory. His supporters now held the power to punish dissent or to protect it. Jefferson's appeal for unity has a concrete test: can the majority govern while leaving its opponents secure in their rights?
That promise has a boundary the address does not acknowledge. Jefferson held people in slavery at Monticello, and the republic denied political standing to those it enslaved. His call for unity could ease conflict among voters while leaving enslaved people outside the political family he invoked.
The opening pages
Reconciliation and Republican Government
March 4, 1801
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS,
Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye -- when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly, indeed, should I despair did not the presence of many whom I here see remind me that in the other high authorities provided by our Constitution I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal on which to rely under all difficulties. To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world.
During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. …
Chapter guides · 1
Reconciliation and Republican Government
A Victory That Must Protect Its Opponents
Jefferson argues that a majority can govern only while equal law protects those who opposed it.
The election ends; the distrust remains
Jefferson opens by admitting that the presidency feels larger than his powers and by looking to Congress for support. He then turns to the election's bitterness. Its constitutional result calls everyone under the law, but he says a majority's will is rightful only when reasonable and when equal law protects minority rights. He warns that political intolerance can persecute as cruelly as religious intolerance. His “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists” addresses former rivals as people with a shared principle, and he would even leave opponents of the Union undisturbed so reason can answer them.
What a strong republic does
Jefferson answers the fear that self-government is too weak by calling it the strongest kind: citizens would defend the law as their own concern. He wants a government strong enough to preserve itself yet frugal enough to leave people free to pursue their work after restraining injury. His “bright constellation” joins state governments with a vigorous federal government, civilian control of the military, payment of public debts, the spread of information, religious and press freedom, and peaceful relations abroad. He offers these principles as a test for the administration, with a duty to return to them after error.
The promise and the silence
At the end, Jefferson asks for trust without claiming perfect judgment. He expects to err, knows people may judge him wrongly when they cannot see his whole field of action, and says he will leave office when voters decide they can choose better. He promises to conciliate opponents by doing them good. The speech calls for equal justice to all men but never confronts slavery, though Jefferson himself held people in bondage. The people he enslaved have no place in the political reconciliation he asks for.
Questions readers ask
- How long does it take to read First Inaugural Address?
- About 10 min in total.
- How difficult is First Inaugural Address?
- Beginner. A short address; about 10 minutes of reading.
- Can I read First Inaugural Address for free?
- First Inaugural Address is part of Nexus Premium, so reading it needs an account and a Premium subscription. The opening above and one chapter guide on this page are free to read.
- How many chapter guides are there?
- One chapter guide, written by the Nexus editors; it opens in full here.
About Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, the third president of the United States, and a central figure in American republican thought. His life joins liberty, empire, education, party politics, and the unresolved contradiction of slavery.
“Can a republic proclaim equality while living against it?”
Jefferson forces Nexus to face both the language of liberty and the contradictions built into the American founding.
Source text: public domain. Chapter guides: original Nexus writing. First Inaugural Address is part of The Nexus Archive, guided Quests through the great works.