Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 10.djvu/165

 CLEVELAND

��servance of the distinction between the powers granted to the federal government and those reserved to the States or to the people, and by a cautious appreciation of those functions which by the Constitution and laws have been espe- cially assigned to the executive branch of the government.

But he who takes the oath to-day to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States only assumes the solemn obliga- tion w'hich every patriotic citizen — on the farm, in the workshop, in the busy marts of trade, and everywhere — should share with him. The Con- stitution which prescribes his oath, my country- men, is yours ; the government you have chosen him to administer for a time is yours; the suf- frage which executes the will of freemen is yours; the laws and the entire scheme of our civil rule, from the town meeting to the State capitals and the national capital, is yours. Your every voter, as surely as your chief magistrate, under the same high sanction, tho in a differ- ent sphere, exercises a public trust. Nor is this all. Every citizen owes to the country a vigi- lant watch and close scrutiny of its public ser- vants and a fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity and usefulness. Thus is the peo- ple's will impressed upon the whole framework of our civil polity — municipal, State, and feder- al; and this is the price of our liberty and the inspiration of our faith in the Republic.

It is the duty of those serving the people in 133

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