Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 10.djvu/160

 CLEVELAND

��HIS FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS*

(1885)

Bom in 1837; elected Mayor of Buffalo In 1882; Gtovemor of New York in 1883-S4; elected President in 1884; defeated for President in 1888; reelected President in 1892; called an extra session of Con- grress which repealed the purchasing clause of the Sherman SUve Bill in 1893.

In the presence of this vast assemblage of my countrymen, I am about to supplement and seal by the oath which I shall take, the manifestation of the will of a great and free people. In the exercise of their power and right of self-govern- ment they have committed to one of their fellow citizens a supreme and sacred trust, and he here consecrates himself to their service.

This impressive ceremony adds little to the nolemn sense of responsibility with which I con- template the duty I owe to all the people of the land. Nothing can relieve me from anxiety lest by any act of mine their interests may suffer, and nothing is needed to strengthen my resolu- tion to engage every faculty and effort in the promotion of their welfare.

Amid the din of party strife the people's

• Delivered March 4, 1885, and Included in this edition by Mr. Cleve- land's kind permission.

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