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269

Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives

The circumstances under which we assemble call for grateful acknowledgements to our Supreme Benefactor. Enjoying, as we do, all the blessings of a free government, where the sovereign power remains the people and is exercised only by agents of their choice, we can hardly realize the condition of other nations, under governments less free, in which the rights of the people are either abridged or altogether disregarded.

To excite love of Country, and an attachment to the institutions under which, as a people, we have prospered, and, as individuals, are protected; to allay that spirit of restlessness, whenever it exists, which is sometimes felt under the most favourable circumstances in life, we may profitably compare our situation with that of other communities. And, when making the comparison, may we always bear in mind that a continuance of our common and public blessings depends, under Providence, upon the intelligence and virtue of the people.

In accepting the situations which we now occupy, as members of that Branch of the Government empowered to enact laws for the common welfar[welfare], we assume responsibilities that can be discharged only by