8463. TOLERATION, Political.—[continued].
During the contest of
opinion [Presidential election] through which
we have passed, the animation of discussion
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 laws must protect, and to violate which
would 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 man
kind so long bled and suffered, we have yet
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 more felt and
feared by some, and less by others; that this
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. * * *
Let us, then, with courage and confidence,
pursue our own federal and republican principles—our attachment to our Union and
representative government.—
First Inaugural Address. Washington ed. viii, 2.
Ford ed., viii, 2.
(1801)
