[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 61 (Thursday, April 17, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2473-H2478]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1500
                            THOMAS JEFFERSON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. CULBERSON. Madam Speaker, this Sunday was the 265th birthday of 
Thomas Jefferson, one of our Nation's greatest Founding Fathers, and 
someone who we, I think, as a Nation do not pay enough attention to.
  His birthday, unfortunately, went largely unnoticed. And I'm going to 
take this time on the floor today, Madam Speaker, to honor this great 
good man, recognize his genius and the application of his core 
principles as solutions to the core problems our Nation faces today, 
and in conclusion, to read his first Inaugural Address which was given 
in this Capitol on March 4, 1801 as a reminder of his genius and as a 
guideline to really lay out a path for the solutions that we really 
need as a Nation today.
  The financial hole the United States finds itself in today is 
absolutely unprecedented. The Comptroller of the United States, David 
Walker, who just left office a few weeks ago, audited the books of the 
United States and concluded that we, as a Nation, are in a $54 trillion 
hole, that every living American would have to write a check for 
$175,000 in order to pay off the existing obligations of the Federal 
Government. That includes the $11 trillion national debt to pay off the 
obligations of Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. All those 
existing obligations of all the Federal programs already on the books 
are so massive, with the retirement of the baby boomers, with the 
profligate Thelma-and-Louise spending of this Democrat Congress, 
existing financial obligations are so severe that we would, every one 
of us, have to write a check today for $175,000 just to pay off those 
existing obligations even if Congress didn't create a single new 
Federal program. It's an extraordinary number, one that is absolutely 
terrifying and that not enough Americans know about.
  If we, as a Nation, would just adhere to the principles of 
Jeffersonian republicanism, if we would remember Mr. Jefferson's 
vision, his genius, his adherence to the core principles of 
republicanism, with a small ``r'' as he called them, we, as a Nation, 
can dig our way out of that financial hole, we as a Nation can return 
to the prosperity and freedom that the Nation has always enjoyed, the 
level of freedom that our founders enjoyed.
  It's disturbing to me, as a Member of Congress, to see the ease with 
which programs like the funding for anyone in the world who has 
tuberculosis, AIDS or malaria, under a bill that this House passed last 
week, anyone in the world in a third world nation that has malaria, TB 
or AIDS is entitled, at U.S. taxpayer expense, to $1,200 a year worth 
of medication. Now, that bill passed at a time when we're in this $54 
trillion hole, when we have an $11 trillion national debt, when every 
one of us owe $175,000 a piece. It's just unbelievable to me and 
utterly irresponsible, the continued expansion of the Federal 
Government, the continued creation of Federal programs like this by 
this Thelma-and-Louise Democrat Congress. To grow the Federal 
Government at a time of record debt and deficit is absolutely 
intolerable, and it just has to stop.
  Mr. Jefferson's birthday is an appropriate time to remember the core 
principles that not only really created the Nation, but would serve us 
well, as a Congress, today to help dig out of that financial hole, to 
make sure that we live within our means.
  Thomas Jefferson often said that if we, as a Nation, would only apply 
core Republican principles to any problem, the knot will always untie 
itself. He was absolutely right about that. Mr. Jefferson believed that 
we should trust the good hearts and the good judgment of individual 
Americans to make the right decision. Never entrust the solution to a 
problem to the Federal Government except as an absolute last resort. 
Washington, D.C. will usually foul it up. And Mr. Jefferson understood 
that. And it was not because there aren't good people here. The 
Nation's capital is full of wonderful, good people dedicated to 
representing their districts to the best of their ability and based on 
their core principles as they see them. We bring in, in District Seven, 
25 young people, one junior from each of the high schools in my 
district, I have set up a program as a nonprofit 501(c)(3), the Bill 
Archer Student Intern Program, to bring one young person from each of 
the high schools in my district for a full week, all-expenses-paid trip 
to Washington, D.C. so they can see firsthand that the Nation's capital 
is full of people who have good hearts, they're doing the best they can 
to represent their districts from their perspective.
  The young people in my district who participate in this program meet 
Members of Congress, they meet Members of the Senate, they meet 
administration officials, cabinet members, they meet judges on the 
Supreme Court, and they have an opportunity to see firsthand, Mr. 
Speaker, that the government is truly made up of good people doing the 
best they can. And it is just human nature that when decisions, as Mr. 
Jefferson said, are removed to Washington, D.C. where the people can't 
see them, can't not only see what's going on, but a real voice in 
what's going on, when those decisions are removed to Washington they 
become, by nature, less responsive, less effective in solving the 
problems of the American people.
  This government has grown so far beyond what the founders intended 
that I'm not sure Mr. Jefferson would recognize the Federal Government 
today. And I know he would be as alarmed as I am, as my colleague, my 
good friend, Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, who will follow me, is with 
the continued growth of this government.
  As fiscally conservative as I am, Mr. Speaker, I've found in the time 
that I've been here I've become even more fiscally conservative as I 
see the record growth of this government, as I read David Walker's 
report. And I encourage everyone out there to take the time,

[[Page H2474]]

Mr. Speaker, to go to gao.gov and look at the Fiscal Wake Up Tour and 
carefully look at what David Walker has audited and certified as the 
immense scope and size of the financial hole that the United States 
finds itself in; $54 trillion hole that gets $3 to $4 trillion deeper 
every year.
  Comptroller Walker says that the United States has about 5 to 10 
years to get our financial house in order. That's an extremely 
important piece of information. We have, according to the Comptroller, 
10 years tops, probably 5 years, to get our financial House in order, 
to begin to get control over these entitlement programs, to begin to 
get on a path to a balanced budget.
  We need a constitutional amendment, ultimately, Mr. Speaker, to get 
the budget of the United States balanced. We have it in Texas, it works 
beautifully. We also have a ``speed governor'' in Texas in our State 
constitution, it's something we need here at the Federal level, where 
the growth in government cannot exceed natural growth in the economy, 
that there is essentially a speed governor on spending that prevents 
the legislative body from spending more money than is brought in by 
natural growth in the economy, it works well in Texas, along with a 
balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution, would do a 
lot to get us back on the path that Comptroller Walker points out that 
we must do within the next 5 to 10 years, or else.
  Comptroller Walker has certified that by 2020, 12 years--young people 
listening here today, Mr. Speaker, if you're 18 years old, by the year 
2020, when you're 30 years old, Medicare is bankrupt. Social Security 
is on the brink of bankruptcy.
  Treasury bonds, the safest investment in the world, according to the 
Comptroller, according to Moody's and Standard and Poor's, who have 
already formally notified the Treasury that they're beginning the 
process of downgrading U.S. Treasury bonds, Treasury bonds by the year 
2020 will be graded as junk bonds if we do not stop growing the 
government and stop spending money on anything but the bare essentials. 
In our personal lives, Mr. Speaker, if we have run up too much debt, if 
we have a second mortgage on the home, if our credit cards are tapped 
out, in our personal lives we would all know what to do, you would quit 
spending money on anything except the bare essentials to keep a roof 
over your family's head, to pay the bills, to put groceries on the 
table, other than that, you would just quit spending money. But the 
Federal Government has the ability not only to print money, but to 
issue more Treasury bonds. And the money that we spend here in Congress 
that is beyond our means is paid for by debt passed on to our kids. 
It's just intolerable.
  The Chinese, the foreign investors buy our Treasury bonds today and 
support this profligate spending, but it is not supportable, it cannot 
be sustained, and we simply must stop spending money that our kids 
cannot afford to pay. It's inexcusable, it's intolerable.
  And it's important, on the 265th birthday of Thomas Jefferson, to 
remember the core principles that Mr. Jefferson lived his life by, that 
he governed this Nation by as our third President, to remember the 
genius of this great, good man and try to apply those principles to 
these massive problems we have today; to, first of all, live within our 
means; to restrict not only the size and power and cost of the Federal 
Government, but to roll it back within the boundaries that the founders 
originally intended, the narrow scope of responsibility as laid out in 
the Constitution so beautifully by our founders.
  The whole idea of the Federal Government was that it would only have 
those powers expressly delegated to it in the Constitution, that, as 
the 10th Amendment says so well, that all power not specifically 
delegated to the Federal Government by the Constitution would be 
reserved to the States and the people.
  I came out of the State legislature in Texas. And the idea behind the 
State constitutions, I think my friend, Congressman Bartlett, served in 
the Maryland State legislature, the State constitutions give the State 
legislatures all power that State constitutions set aside for the 
legislatures. It's a broad grant of authority.
  The Federal Government is delegated responsibility in a very narrow 
way by the Federal Constitution. And over the years, with the terrible 
War Between the States, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the 
Reconstruction Congress, The New Deal, the growth of the Federal 
Government with the rapid expansion of power under The New Deal, 
Congress passing laws in areas where they really don't have any 
business, as a result, the Federal Government has grown so far beyond 
anything that the founders envisioned that we today face, as David 
Walker has told us, a $54 trillion liability that equals $175,000 for 
every living American.
  This obligation, Mr. Speaker, is so massive that if we were to 
confiscate all the private property of the United States and sell it 
off at auction, David Walker estimates that would only pay for about 90 
percent of this $54 trillion obligation.
  It's a terrifying number. And the number that we often see for the 
national debt of about $11 trillion working out to about $45,000 a 
person, that's not the real number, folks. The real number is you, Mr. 
Speaker, I, every living American has to write a check for $175,000 
today to pay off that $54 trillion liability that we are now descending 
on a path like Argentina, the dollar becoming like the peso.
  We, as a Nation, our Treasury bills, the safest investment in the 
history of the world, becoming junk bonds. It's intolerable, it's 
inexcusable. And it's a result of profligate spending by this Congress 
over far too many years. It's why I, as the congressman from District 
Seven, voted against the farm bill. No Child Left Behind is a violation 
of the 10th Amendment, spending money we didn't have. I voted against 
this AIDS in Africa program. I voted against the Medicare Prescription 
Drug bill. I voted against, frankly, every single one of the major 
spending initiatives that have been proposed since I got here in 2001 
in recognition that I just simply will do everything in my power not to 
pass on this massive debt and deficit to my daughter and to her kids. 
It is just inexcusable and unacceptable.
  I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to honor Mr. Jefferson and to read into 
the Record his magnificent first Inaugural Address, his great advice 
for the Nation today, for this Congress, for the Nation, for the 
executive branch, for all of us to just take a moment and contemplate 
carefully the genius of Thomas Jefferson, the wisdom of his core 
philosophy of republicanism, with a small ``r,'' that was focused on 
the preservation of individual liberty and trusting individual 
Americans to control that which they could see with their own eye, as 
he often liked to say, shifting power away from Washington and back in 
the hands of locally elected officials and individual Americans.
  Mr. Jefferson also spent much of his time fighting the expansion of 
power of the judiciary.

                              {time}  1515

  John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at that time 
when he was President, and Mr. Jefferson locked horns repeatedly. And 
one of my favorite Jefferson quotes when it came to the judiciary was 
Mr. Jefferson often said that ``The judiciary advances on noiseless 
steps like gravity, never yielding what they have gained.''
  And that is so true, Mr. Speaker. Not only has the Congress, passing 
laws we have no business passing that belong within the jurisdiction 
and control of State and local governments, not only has the Congress 
expanded the size, power, and cost to the Federal Government, but an 
aggressive judiciary has repeatedly expanded the scope of its power and 
responsibility.
  Also, after the election of 1800 when the Republicans and he, as the 
leader of the Republican Party, took over the executive branch and won 
a majority in the United States House and in the United States Senate, 
Mr. Jefferson said that the Federalists, those who wanted to 
concentrate all power in Washington, had ``retreated to the bunkers of 
the judiciary and turned their guns on the people of the United 
States.''
  And in so many ways, those judges that Mr. Jefferson was so concerned 
about have over time gradually expanded the scope of their power where 
in, for example, the State of Missouri,

[[Page H2475]]

Mr. Speaker, a Federal judge in Missouri actually ordered a tax 
increase to pay for public education. Unbelievable, that a judge would 
take it upon himself to tax the people of Missouri to pay for public 
education. He ordered the State of Missouri to issue $100 million in 
bonds, raised property taxes, raised taxes on the people of Missouri to 
pay for improvements that that Federal judge believed in his ivory 
tower, in his wisdom as Zeus up on Mount Olympus, that the people of 
the city of St. Louis needed to improve their schools. And this judge 
had the idea that here's how we're going to do it and you're going to 
pay taxes to pay for it.
  Time after time after time, when power is concentrated where the 
people can't see it, where they can't touch it, where it's in the hands 
of people that are unelected, unaccountable, and invisible to the 
public, bad decisions are made, Mr. Speaker. The Constitution suffers, 
this Nation suffers, and I think as a result of drifting too far from 
the core principles of Jeffersonian Republicanism, the Nation finds 
itself where it is today, in a $54 trillion hole where we are on a 
glide path to become like Argentina, where our treasury bills are junk, 
where our dollar is not valued, and we essentially could be within a 
decade on the brink of national bankruptcy. It's unacceptable. We can 
stop it just like a hurricane can be dealt with, Mr. Speaker. If we see 
the hurricane coming and know about it, we can deal with it.
  It's important to remember that the people of Britain won the Battle 
of Britain because Winston Churchill was honest with them and told them 
how dangerous the Nazis were, how severe the threat was to their 
freedom, that the British people could indeed lose their island and 
fall under Hitler's control. But the people of Britain had to be told 
the truth. And Winston Churchill told them the truth. And I think we, 
as elected officials, owe our constituents the truth about the size and 
scope of the $54 trillion liability that has been created over the last 
60 years of Democrat and Republican Congresses. Passing that liability 
on to our children and grandchildren is outrageous, it's unacceptable, 
it's immoral, it's fundamentally wrong. And I hope we will, all of us, 
as Members of Congress, take guidance from the genius, the wisdom of 
Thomas Jefferson as he addressed the Nation in his first inaugural 
address on March 4, 1801, after coming through a bitter election where 
the House of Representatives had to make the final decision as to who 
was to be President.
  He, as leader of the Republican Party, was running against John 
Adams, the leader of the Federalist Party, the second President. They 
had become fast friends in Paris. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and 
Abigail Adams had become just inseparable friends during their time 
together in Paris, in Europe. They had become friends, of course, 
during the time of the writing of the Declaration of Independence. It 
was John Adams who put Thomas Jefferson on the committee and insisted 
that Mr. Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence and John Adams 
who continued to support and encourage Thomas Jefferson. They were fast 
personal friends.
  But in the election of 1800, they had a falling out because of their 
fundamental difference of opinion about the direction the Nation should 
go. Mr. Adams believed in a strong, powerful central government and the 
concentration of authority in Washington, D.C. Mr. Jefferson believed 
firmly in the preservation of our constitutional separation of powers 
and the preservation of the rights of the States and the people as the 
best and most responsible guardians of liberty. And that fundamental 
difference of opinion about where true power should lie led to their 
running against each other for President.
  Aaron Burr was running also. And in the election of 1800, the 
electoral college wound up being deadlocked. It was a tie between Aaron 
Burr and Thomas Jefferson, and the House of Representatives had to make 
the final decision. Each State being given one vote, there was a 
deadlock, and I think it was 37 ballots that had to be cast before Mr. 
Jefferson was finally selected as President.
  So they had come through a bitter election. The Nation had gone right 
to the brink of war with France. It was a bitter, bitter struggle over 
whether or not the Nation should go to war with France. John Adams 
signed the Alien and Sedition Acts. And by signing the Alien and 
Sedition Acts, the Federalists, led by John Adams, had essentially made 
it illegal for anyone to speak out against the President, to speak out 
in a way that would hold out the President or the Congress to ridicule, 
violating, of course, obviously, the first amendment, freedom of 
speech. And that, of course, also deepened the separation between Mr. 
Jefferson and Mr. Adams.
  That election was especially bitter. So this inaugural address was 
given at a time of deep passionate differences between Federalists and 
Republicans. And that part of his speech, I think, is also very 
applicable today.
  Mr. Speaker, you and I are good friends. We, all of us, work together 
in this House as best we can to advance the needs of the Nation. There 
are personal friendships, certainly among, for example, the Texas 
delegation. One of my very best friends in Congress, my good friend 
Henry Cuellar, and my good friend Ciro Rodriguez, who represents the 
border counties, we were elected together in 1986 in the Texas 
legislature. We remain devoted friends, and all of us in the Texas 
delegation put Texas first. When it comes to the needs of our State, 
party labels don't matter. We're Texans first and do what we can to 
help the State of Texas. And I know that's true of other State 
delegations. It's especially true in Texas.
  And in the inaugural address that Mr. Jefferson gave in 1801, he was 
speaking of the need to bring the Nation together and to not let party 
labels or party fights get in the way of doing the right thing for the 
Nation. So part of what you will hear Mr. Jefferson say to the Nation, 
I think, is especially appropriate today, that we do all that we can to 
put those partisan distinctions aside.

  But as I read his inaugural address and as you hear his words, it's 
also important for the majority here to remember Mr. Jefferson's 
admonition that, although the will of the majority is in all cases to 
prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable and protect the 
rights of the minority. Because this majority, this Thelma and Louise 
Democrat majority in this Congress that's driving America right off a 
financial cliff, this Thelma and Louise Democrat majority doesn't often 
hold public hearings on bills. They drop bills out here on the floor 
without public hearings. There's no opportunity for amendment. There's 
very little opportunity for debate, just fundamentally destroying the 
whole purpose of this great deliberative body. And denying the minority 
our right to offer amendment, our right to be heard in this debate, is, 
as you will hear Mr. Jefferson say, oppression, a violation of the most 
fundamental principles of this great American Republic. We see it occur 
on a daily basis, and it's a tragic and terrible thing that the Thelma 
and Louise Democrat majority has imposed on this House, on this Nation, 
in denying the Republican minority our opportunity to offer amendments 
and be heard. So in that sense too, Mr. Jefferson's words have special 
meaning today.
  I have probably read about 60 percent of Mr. Jefferson's works. He is 
my hero. Mr. Jefferson is my role model in all that I do. In 
representing District Seven, I do my very best, Mr. Speaker, to apply 
core Jeffersonian principles, and on every issue I have found no matter 
what the problem is, no matter what the issue is, Mr. Jefferson was 
right. If you apply core Republican principles, the knot always unties 
itself. I have yet to encounter a problem that Jeffersonian Republican 
principles won't solve. So, Mr. Speaker, I want to now read into the 
Record Thomas Jefferson's first inaugural address on March 4, 1801, at 
the conclusion of which I will yield back the remainder of my hour and 
turn it over to my good friend and colleague Roscoe Bartlett, a fellow 
dedicated conservative who is committed to the core principles of our 
Constitution. Mr. Bartlett is someone I admire deeply, a fellow 
Jeffersonian.
  And before reading Mr. Jefferson's inaugural address, his greatest 
speech perhaps, I think, and in the opinion of scholars, they believe 
Mr. Jefferson's first inaugural address is his greatest, let me also 
point out, Mr. Speaker, something else important. This good man, at the 
end of his life, wrote on his

[[Page H2476]]

tombstone three things. If you visit Monticello and visit Mr. 
Jefferson's grave, it says on his tombstone that he was the author of 
the American independence, the author of the Virginia Statute of 
Religious Freedom, and the father of the University of Virginia. Mr. 
Jefferson listed those three things because in his mind those were his 
three greatest achievements. He wanted to list on his tombstone those 
things that he had done for the American people rather than those 
things that they had done for him. All the offices that he had held, 
the incredible array of honors that had been his throughout his life. 
In fact, Mr. Speaker, there was a wonderful letter that Mr. Jefferson 
wrote towards the end of his life in February of 1826. He died, of 
course, on July 4, 1826, 50 years to the minute after he presented the 
Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress. Mr. Jefferson 
held on, although he was unconscious. He knew that he was close to the 
4th. He actually breathed his last at about 1 p.m. on July 4, 1826, at 
almost the exact moment that 50 years earlier the committee, Mr. Adams, 
Dr. Franklin, and Mr. Jefferson, had presented the Declaration to the 
Continental Congress.
  Mr. Jefferson had, about 4 months earlier, wrote a letter justifying 
lotteries, because he couldn't balance his checkbook and Monticello was 
going to have to be sold to pay off his creditors, which broke his 
heart. And someone had come up with the idea of having a lottery to 
help pay for the debts that he had incurred. And, of course, a lottery, 
being gambling, it really worried Mr. Jefferson. And he wrote a long 
justification for this lottery that would sell tickets to save 
Monticello. And I recommend it to people to take a look at because in 
this long justification, called Thoughts on Lotteries and it's dated, I 
think, February of 1826, Mr. Jefferson lays out all of the great 
accomplishments in his life. After going through all the good things 
that lotteries have done in the past, he says that for no other reason 
people buy a lottery ticket, they should perhaps remember his services 
to the Nation, and he lists all that he had done with his incredible 
life: Secretary of State, Minister to France, Vice President, President 
of the United States, the author of the Declaration of Independence, 
this incredible list of accomplishments in his life.

                              {time}  1530

  And most revealingly, Mr. Speaker, Thomas Jefferson says at the end 
of it all, listing all of those accomplishments, Mr. Jefferson says, 
``Of all these things that I have done with my life, the most important 
thing that I have ever done was to be a partisan Republican, to head 
the Republican party.''
  Because Mr. Jefferson said ``it was the Republicans that I, as the 
leader of the Republicans in the Senate, and Albert Gallatin, as the 
leader of the Republicans in the House, that essentially saved the 
Republic, that held on to the core principles of the Constitution at 
the time under the Alien and Sedition Act when the Adams administration 
was furiously concentrating power in the hands of the Federal 
Government, that the Republicans in the Congress, the Republicans in 
the State legislature, and the phalanx of the State legislatures,'' as 
Mr. Jefferson said, ``it was the Republican party that truly saved the 
Republic,'' and that being partisan, being the leader of the Republican 
party, in Mr. Jefferson's mind, was his greatest accomplishment because 
it led to the election of 1800 and the salvation of the Nation.
  Mr. Jefferson always thought of the election of 1800 as the 
revolution of 1800, and by electing a Republican majority to the House 
in 1800, a Republican majority to the Senate, a Republican President, 
Republicans had been elected in State legislatures across the Nation, 
that Mr. Jefferson believed that that election was decisive and allowed 
the core principles of the Constitution to be salvaged and to be 
preserved for future generations.
  And with that in mind, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Jefferson stood up in the old 
Senate Chamber, just across the Rotunda, there is a plaque that people 
can see today in the old Senate Chamber. Mr. Jefferson was known for 
giving speeches. And he had a very soft voice. He was a little hard to 
hear. Eloquent and magnificent writer that he was, he was a little hard 
to hear in public speeches. And he stood up in the Senate Chamber. 
There was a lot of strong emotion in the room, a lot of anger. John 
Adams did not even attend the inauguration. He was so angry.
  And as a quick side note, if you have not seen or not watched the 
magnificent HBO series on John Adams, you should. Having not subscribed 
to HBO before, we did subscribe for a couple of months just for the 
sole purpose of seeing that magnificent production of David 
McCullough's biography of John Adams that Tom Hanks is responsible for, 
and a great, good thing that Tom Hanks has done for the Nation in 
bringing David McCullough's book to the Nation. It is a magnificent 
series, and I recommend it to you.
  And you will see in there that John Adams was so upset by his defeat 
that he didn't even attend the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson. And 
Mr. Jefferson therefore stood up and gave this speech in a very, very 
tense atmosphere in the old Senate Chamber. There were a lot of angry 
people in the room. The Nation, frankly, at one point, when the 34 
ballots were being cast in that deadlock, there was even discussion of 
the militia in Virginia going to the old armory there in Williamsburg 
and taking out weapons, a militia marching on Washington to ensure Mr. 
Jefferson's election because of this deadlock.
  So tensions were high. Partisan feelings were strong. Yet Mr. 
Jefferson stood up and gave his inaugural address, his greatest speech 
at a time when the Nation truly could have been split apart. New 
England even talked about leaving the Union.
  In that atmosphere, Mr. Jefferson stood up on March 4, 1801, and gave 
the following speech.
  ``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 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 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 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 will 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

[[Page H2477]]

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 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. 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. I 
know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a Republican government 
cannot be strong, that this government is not strong enough; but would 
the honest patriot in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a 
government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and 
visionary fear that this government, the world's best hope, may by 
possibility want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. On the 
contrary, I believe this, the strongest government on Earth. I believe 
it is the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly 
to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public 
order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man cannot 
be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted 
with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of 
kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

  ``Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal 
and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative 
government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the 
exterminating havoc of one-quarter of the globe; too high-minded to 
endure the degradations of others; possessing a chosen country, with 
room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth 
generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of 
our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor 
and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but 
from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign 
religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of 
them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude and the love of 
man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all 
its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here 
and his greater happiness hereafter--with all these blessings, what 
more is necessary to make us a happy and 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.
  ``About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which 
comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should 
understand what I deem the essential principles of our government, and 
consequently those which ought to shape its administration. I will 
compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the 
general principle, but not all its limitations.
  ``Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or 
persuasion, religious or political;
  ``Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling 
alliances with none;
  ``The support of the State governments in all their rights, as the 
most competent administrations of our domestic concerns and the surest 
bulwarks against anti-Republican tendencies;
  ``The preservation of the general government in its whole 
constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and 
safety abroad;
  ``A jealous care of the right of election by the people--a mild and 
safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution 
where peaceable remedies were unprovided;
  ``Absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital 
principle of Republics, from which there is no appeal but to force, the 
vital principle and immediate parent of despotism;
  ``A well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the 
first moments of war till regulars may relieve them;
  ``The supremacy of the civil over the military authority;
  ``Economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened;
  ``The honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the 
public faith;
  ``Encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid;
  ``The diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the 
bar of public reason;
  ``Freedom of religion;
  ``Freedom of the press;
  ``And freedom of person under the proceedings of habeas corpus, and 
trial by juries impartially selected.
  ``These principles form the bright constellation which has gone 
before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and 
reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been 
devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political 
faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try 
the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in 
moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to 
regain the road with alone leads to peace, liberty and safety.

                              {time}  1545

  ``I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned me. 
With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the 
difficulty of this the greatest of all, 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 with the favor which bring him into it.
  ``Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our 
first and greatest revolutionary character, whose preeminent services 
had entitled him to first place in his country's love and destined for 
him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much 
confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal 
administration of your affairs.
  ``I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I 
shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command 
a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, 
which will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of 
others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts. 
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.
  ``Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance with 
obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become 
sensible how much better choice it is in your power to make. And may 
that Infinite Power which rules the destiny of the universe lead our 
councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your 
peace and prosperity.''
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Jefferson's first inaugural address holds so much 
wisdom for us today at the start of the 21st century, just as it did at 
the start of the 19th century, as surely his core principles are the 
touchstone by which I measure my work on behalf of the people of 
District 7. And in reading his magnificent speech today, I want to 
honor this great, good man, to celebrate his 265th birthday, to 
recognize Thomas Jefferson's genius, his contribution to this Nation, 
and to recommit myself in the service of the people of District 7 to 
the core principles of Jeffersonian Republicanism, through which I have 
absolutely no doubt we will dig ourselves out of this immense fiscal 
hole we find ourselves in and restore the hope that Mr. Jefferson had 
for the future.

[[Page H2478]]

  After all, this is the greatest country ever created in the history 
of the world, and I have no doubt that the future is limitless for us 
as Americans.
  I am proud to yield back the balance of my time and turn the floor 
over to my good friend, my colleague, someone I admire immensely, a 
fellow Jeffersonian, Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland.

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