Thomas Jefferson: First Inaugural Address - Analysis | Milestone Documents - Milestone Documents

Thomas Jefferson: First Inaugural Address

( 1801 ) Commentary by John P. Kaminski, University of Wisconsin—Madison
  • “All … 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.” - Paragraph 2
  • “Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things.” - Paragraph 2
  • “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. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” - Paragraph 2
  • “Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?… Let history answer this question.” - Paragraph 2
  • “Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government.” - Paragraph 3
  • “With all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.” - Paragraph 3
  • “These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.” - Paragraph 4
  • “I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it.” - Paragraph 5
  • “The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great consolation to me for the past, and my future solicitude will be to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all.” - Paragraph 5
  • “And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.” - Paragraph 6
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Thomas Jefferson's draft of his first inaugural address (Library of Congress)

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