John Adams: Inaugural Address

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

When he took the oath of office as America's second president, Adams's particular political liabilities prompted him to give a somewhat longer inaugural address than Washington had done in 1789. In entering a new office in a new government, Washington could defer discussing any and all specific issues that might arise during his presidency until they did arise. By 1797, however, the young republic had a track record of contested issues, declarations, treaties, and laws. Adams had a track record, too, including certain propositions advanced in his Defence of the Constitutions that had prompted many Americans to suspect he might not be sufficiently republican for their new government. In his address, Adams was at some pains to set the record straight.

He begins with a brief look back to the Revolutionary War and the Articles of Confederation, which had both taught Americans the need for national unity. He then turns to the Constitution, which he endorses in the strongest terms, praising it as arising from the “usual good sense” of the American people. To confront rumors that he had not been entirely happy with certain parts of the document, he declares that he had thoroughly approved the Constitution upon first reading it in England, and he denies that he had ever objected to it for not making “the Executive and Senate … more permanent” (which was true of his public statements, although not, at least regarding the executive, of his private correspondence). A decade later, Adams could now assert, in this address, that “the operation of [the Constitution] has equaled the most sanguine expectations of its friends.” He concludes his general praise by asking “What other form of government can so well deserve our esteem and love?”

Adams then advances a brief summary of the virtues of republican government, repeatedly stressing its intimate relationship with an enlightened people, before turning to the dire perils that even this best of governments could face. The worst, he declares, would be any corruption “of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections,” which faced their greatest challenge from the “flattery or menaces” of foreign nations. In the midst of such dangers America had been most fortunate to have had, as its chief executive, Adams's prudent, just, and patriotic predecessor, whom he felt no need to name. After making several promises to treat all citizens impartially and to seek peace with honor with belligerent France, he pledges to follow Washington's example, and he concludes, much as had Washington in 1789, with an appeal to divine providence to bless the nation and his administration.