From a small community we have risen to a people powerful in numbers and in strength; but with our increase has gone hand in hand the progress of jus… - Martin Van Buren

it is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didnt

How imperious, then, is the obligation imposed upon every citizen, in his own sphere of action, whether limited or extended, to exert himself in perpetuating a condition of things so singularly happy.

The practice of all my predecessors imposes on me an obligation I cheerfully fulfill—to accompany the first and solemn act of my public trust with an avowal of the principles that will guide me in performing it and an expression of my feelings on assuming a charge so responsible and vast.