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State of the Union Addresses of Millard Fillmore

M >> Millard Fillmore >> State of the Union Addresses of Millard Fillmore




But it is now said by some that this policy must be changed. Europe is no
longer separated from us by a voyage of months, but steam navigation has
brought her within a few days' sail of our shores. We see more of her
movements and take a deeper interest in her controversies. Although no one
proposes that we should join the fraternity of potentates who have for ages
lavished the blood and treasure of their subjects in maintaining "the
balance of power," yet it is said that we ought to interfere between
contending sovereigns and their subjects for the purpose of overthrowing
the monarchies of Europe and establishing in their place republican
institutions. It is alleged that we have heretofore pursued a different
course from a sense of our weakness, but that now our conscious strength
dictates a change of policy, and that it is consequently our duty to mingle
in these contests and aid those who are struggling for liberty.

This is a most seductive but dangerous appeal to the generous sympathies of
freemen. Enjoying, as we do, the blessings of a free Government, there is
no man who has an American heart that would not rejoice to see these
blessings extended to all other nations. We can not witness the struggle
between the oppressed and his oppressor anywhere without the deepest
sympathy for the former and the most anxious desire for his triumph.
Nevertheless, is it prudent or is it wise to involve ourselves in these
foreign wars? Is it indeed true that we have heretofore refrained from
doing so merely from the degrading motive of a conscious weakness? For the
honor of the patriots who have gone before us, I can not admit it. Men of
the Revolution, who drew the sword against the oppressions of the mother
country and pledged to Heaven "their lives, their fortunes, and their
sacred honor" to maintain their freedom, could never have been actuated by
so unworthy a motive. They knew no weakness or fear where right or duty
pointed the way, and it is a libel upon their fair fame for us, while we
enjoy the blessings for which they so nobly fought and bled, to insinuate
it. The truth is that the course which they pursued was dictated by a stern
sense of international justice, by a statesmanlike prudence and a
far-seeing wisdom, looking not merely to the present necessities but to the
permanent safety and interest of the country. They knew that the world is
governed less by sympathy than by reason and force; that it was not
possible for this nation to become a "propagandist" of free principles
without arraying against it the combined powers of Europe, and that the
result was more likely to be the overthrow of republican liberty here than
its establishment there. History has been written in vain for those who can
doubt this. France had no sooner established a republican form of
government than she manifested a desire to force its blessings on all the
world. Her own historian informs us that, hearing of some petty acts of
tyranny in a neighboring principality, "the National Convention declared
that she would afford succor and fraternity to all nations who wished to
recover their liberty, and she gave it in charge to the executive power to
give orders to the generals of the French armies to aid all citizens who
might have been or should be oppressed in the cause of liberty." Here was
the false step which led to her subsequent misfortunes. She soon found
herself involved in war with all the rest of Europe. In less than ten years
her Government was changed from a republic to an empire, and finally, after
shedding rivers of blood, foreign powers restored her exiled dynasty and
exhausted Europe sought peace and repose in the unquestioned ascendency of
monarchical principles. Let us learn wisdom from her example. Let us
remember that revolutions do not always establish freedom. Our own free
institutions were not the offspring of our Revolution. They existed before.
They were planted in the free charters of self-government under which the
English colonies grew up, and our Revolution only freed us from the
dominion of a foreign power whose government was at variance with those
institutions. But European nations have had no such training for
self-government, and every effort to establish it by bloody revolutions has
been, and must without that preparation continue to be, a failure. Liberty
unregulated by law degenerates into anarchy, which soon becomes the most
horrid of all despotisms. Our policy is wisely to govern ourselves, and
thereby to set such an example of national justice, prosperity, and true
glory as shall teach to all nations the blessings of self-government and
the unparalleled enterprise and success of a free people.

We live in an age of progress, and ours is emphatically a country of
progress. Within the last half century the number of States in this Union
has nearly doubled, the population has almost quadrupled, and our
boundaries have been extended from the Mississippi to the Pacific. Our
territory is checkered over with railroads and furrowed with canals. The
inventive talent of our country is excited to the highest pitch, and the
numerous applications for patents for valuable improvements distinguish
this age and this people from all others. The genius of one American has
enabled our commerce to move against wind and tide and that of another has
annihilated distance in the transmission of intelligence. The whole country
is full of enterprise. Our common schools are diffusing intelligence among
the people and our industry is fast accumulating the comforts and luxuries
of life. This is in part owing to our peculiar position, to our fertile
soil and comparatively sparse population; but much of it is also owing to
the popular institutions under which we live, to the freedom which every
man feels to engage in any useful pursuit according to his taste or
inclination, and to the entire confidence that his person and property will
be protected by the laws. But whatever may be the cause of this
unparalleled growth in population, intelligence, and wealth, one tiring is
clear--that the Government must keep pace with the progress of the people.
It must participate in their spirit of enterprise, and while it exacts
obedience to the laws and restrains all unauthorized invasions of the
rights of neighboring states, it should foster and protect home industry
and lend its powerful strength to the improvement of such means of
intercommunication as are necessary to promote our internal commerce and
strengthen the ties which bind us together as a people.

It is not strange, however much it may be regretted, that such an
exuberance of enterprise should cause some individuals to mistake change
for progress and the invasion of the rights of others for national prowess
and glory. The former are constantly agitating for some change in the
organic law, or urging new and untried theories of human rights. The latter
are ever ready to engage in any wild crusade against a neighboring people,
regardless of the justice of the enterprise and without looking at the
fatal consequences to ourselves and to the cause of popular government.
Such expeditions, however, are often stimulated by mercenary individuals,
who expect to share the plunder or profit of the enterprise without
exposing themselves to danger, and are led on by some irresponsible
foreigner, who abuses the hospitality of our own Government by seducing the
young and ignorant to join in his scheme of personal ambition or revenge
under the false and delusive pretense of extending the area of freedom.
These reprehensible aggressions but retard the true progress of our nation
and tarnish its fair fame. They should therefore receive the indignant
frowns of every good citizen who sincerely loves his country and takes a
pride in its prosperity and honor. Our Constitution, though not perfect, is
doubtless the best that ever was formed. Therefore let every proposition to
change it be well weighed and, if found beneficial, cautiously adopted.
Every patriot will rejoice to see its authority so exerted as to advance
the prosperity and honor of the nation, whilst he will watch with jealousy
any attempt to mutilate this charter of our liberties or pervert its powers
to acts of aggression or injustice. Thus shall conservatism and progress
blend their harmonious action in preserving the form and spirit of the
Constitution and at the same time carry forward the great improvements of
the country with a rapidity and energy which freemen only can display.

In closing this my last annual communication, permit me, fellow-citizens,
to congratulate you on the prosperous condition of our beloved country.
Abroad its relations with all foreign powers are friendly, its rights are
respected, and its high place in the family of nations cheerfully
recognized. At home we enjoy an amount of happiness, public and private,
which has probably never fallen to the lot of any other people. Besides
affording to our own citizens a degree of prosperity of which on so large a
scale I know of no other instance, our country is annually affording a
refuge and a home to multitudes, altogether without example, from the Old
World.

We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the happy Constitution and
Government which were bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is our
sacred duty to transmit in all their integrity to our children. We must all
consider it a great distinction and privilege to have been chosen by the
people to bear a part in the administration of such a Government. Called by
an unexpected dispensation to its highest trust at a season of
embarrassment and alarm, I entered upon its arduous duties with extreme
diffidence. I claim only to have discharged them to the best of an humble
ability, with a single eye to the public good, and it is with devout
gratitude in retiring from office that I leave the country in a state of
peace and prosperity.

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