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II

-itude towards that Almighty Being, to whom we are indebted for the innumerable blessings conferred upon our favored country. It is also highly satisfactory to learn from the recent exposition of our national affairs by the chief Magistrate of the Union, that the other sections of this extensive Republic are likewise rapidly progressing in all those attainments, which render a people virtuous, prosperous and happy. Our nation, throughout its vast domains, is continually improving, the population is increasing with a rapidity unexampled in the annals of the world, and regularly advancing in the arts and sciences, in practical knowledge, intelligence and power; our Agriculture Commence and Manufactures, mutually aiding and supporting each other, are thriving with increased activity; our relations with foreign powers continue generally in a most favorable state; and in the course of another year the United States may exhibit an instance without example in the history of modern times of a powerful nation unencumbered with a public debt. This happy and prosperous condition of our county is chiefly to be attributed, under the blessings of a kind Providence, to the nature of our republican institutions, and the just and pacific policy uniformly pursued by our national government, which, without being turned from its course by motives of national ambition and vain glory, makes the welfare and happiness of the people the exclusive object of its consideration. So preserve from infringement the principles of those institutions, and to maintain their purity and efficiency, should therefore, be the unceasing endeavor of the constituted guardians of the public welfare. The great object, contemplated in the adoption of the federal constitution was to insure a more perfect Union of the States, whereby the security