Mormon History
James Garfield Inaugural Address - 1881
President James A. Garfield
Inaugural Address Delivered on Friday, March 4, 1881
Snow on the ground discouraged many spectators from attending the ceremony at the Capitol. Congressman Garfield had been nominated on his party's 36th ballot at the convention; and he had won the popular vote by a slim margin. The former Civil War general was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice Morrison Waite on the snow-covered East Portico of the Capitol. In the parade and the inaugural ball later that day, John Philip Sousa led the Marine Corps band. The ball was held at the Smithsonian Institution's new National Museum (now the Arts and Industries Building).
Fellow-Citizens:
WE stand to-day upon an eminence which overlooks a hundred years
of national life—a century crowded with perils, but crowned with the
triumphs of liberty and law. Before continuing the onward march let us
pause on this height for a moment to strengthen our faith and renew our
hope by a glance at the pathway along which our people have traveled.
It is now three days more than a hundred years since the adoption
of the first written constitution of the United States—the Articles of
Confederation and Perpetual Union. The new Republic was then beset with
danger on every hand. It had not conquered a place in the family of
nations. The decisive battle of the war for independence, whose
centennial anniversary will soon be gratefully celebrated at Yorktown,
had not yet been fought. The colonists were struggling not only against
the armies of a great nation, but against the settled opinions of
mankind; for the world did not then believe that the supreme authority
of government could be safely intrusted to the guardianship of the
people themselves.
We can not overestimate the fervent love of liberty, the
intelligent courage, and the sum of common sense with which our fathers
made the great experiment of self-government. When they found, after a
short trial, that the confederacy of States, was too weak to meet the
necessities of a vigorous and expanding republic, they boldly set it
aside, and in its stead established a National Union, founded directly
upon the will of the people, endowed with full power of
self-preservation and ample authority for the accomplishment of its
great object.
Under this Constitution the boundaries of freedom have been
enlarged, the foundations of order and peace have been strengthened,
and the growth of our people in all the better elements of national
life has indicated the wisdom of the founders and given new hope to
their descendants. Under this Constitution our people long ago made
themselves safe against danger from without and secured for their
mariners and flag equality of rights on all the seas. Under this
Constitution twenty-five States have been added to the Union, with
constitutions and laws, framed and enforced by their own citizens, to
secure the manifold blessings of local self-government.
The jurisdiction of this Constitution now covers an area fifty
times greater than that of the original thirteen States and a
population twenty times greater than that of 1780.
The supreme trial of the Constitution came at last under the
tremendous pressure of civil war. We ourselves are witnesses that the
Union emerged from the blood and fire of that conflict purified and
made stronger for all the beneficent purposes of good government.
And now, at the close of this first century of growth, with the
inspirations of its history in their hearts, our people have lately
reviewed the condition of the nation, passed judgment upon the conduct
and opinions of political parties, and have registered their will
concerning the future administration of the Government. To interpret
and to execute that will in accordance with the Constitution is the
paramount duty of the Executive.
Even from this brief review it is manifest that the nation is
resolutely facing to the front, resolved to employ its best energies in
developing the great possibilities of the future. Sacredly preserving
whatever has been gained to liberty and good government during the
century, our people are determined to leave behind them all those
bitter controversies concerning things which have been irrevocably
settled, and the further discussion of which can only stir up strife
and delay the onward march.
The supremacy of the nation and its laws should be no longer a subject
of debate. That discussion, which for half a century threatened the
existence of the Union, was closed at last in the high court of war by
a decree from which there is no appeal—that the Constitution and the
laws made in pursuance thereof are and shall continue to be the supreme
law of the land, binding alike upon the States and the people. This
decree does not disturb the autonomy of the States nor interfere with
any of their necessary rights of local self-government, but it does fix
and establish the permanent supremacy of the Union.
The will of the nation, speaking with the voice of battle and
through the amended Constitution, has fulfilled the great promise of
1776 by proclaiming "liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants
thereof."
The elevation of the negro race from slavery to the full rights
of citizenship is the most important political change we have known
since the adoption of the Constitution of 1787. NO thoughtful man can
fail to appreciate its beneficent effect upon our institutions and
people. It has freed us from the perpetual danger of war and
dissolution. It has added immensely to the moral and industrial forces
of our people. It has liberated the master as well as the slave from a
relation which wronged and enfeebled both. It has surrendered to their
own guardianship the manhood of more than 5,000,000 people, and has
opened to each one of them a career of freedom and usefulness. It has
given new inspiration to the power of self-help in both races by making
labor more honorable to the one and more necessary to the other. The
influence of this force will grow greater and bear richer fruit with
the coming years.
No doubt this great change has caused serious disturbance to our
Southern communities. This is to be deplored, though it was perhaps
unavoidable. But those who resisted the change should remember that
under our institutions there was no middle ground for the negro race
between slavery and equal citizenship. There can be no permanent
disfranchised peasantry in the United States. Freedom can never yield
its fullness of blessings so long as the law or its administration
places the smallest obstacle in the pathway of any virtuous citizen.
The emancipated race has already made remarkable progress. With
unquestioning devotion to the Union, with a patience and gentleness not
born of fear, they have "followed the light as God gave them to see the
light." They are rapidly laying the material foundations of
self-support, widening their circle of intelligence, and beginning to
enjoy the blessings that gather around the homes of the industrious
poor. They deserve the generous encouragement of all good men. So far
as my authority can lawfully extend they shall enjoy the full and equal
protection of the Constitution and the laws.
The free enjoyment of equal suffrage is still in question, and a
frank statement of the issue may aid its solution. It is alleged that
in many communities negro citizens are practically denied the freedom
of the ballot. In so far as the truth of this allegation is admitted,
it is answered that in many places honest local government is
impossible if the mass of uneducated negroes are allowed to vote. These
are grave allegations. So far as the latter is true, it is the only
palliation that can be offered for opposing the freedom of the ballot.
Bad local government is certainly a great evil, which ought to be
prevented; but to violate the freedom and sanctities of the suffrage is
more than an evil. It is a crime which, if persisted in, will destroy
the Government itself. Suicide is not a remedy. If in other lands it be
high treason to compass the death of the king, it shall be counted no
less a crime here to strangle our sovereign power and stifle its voice.
It has been said that unsettled questions have no pity for the
repose of nations. It should be said with the utmost emphasis that this
question of the suffrage will never give repose or safety to the States
or to the nation until each, within its own jurisdiction, makes and
keeps the ballot free and pure by the strong sanctions of the law.
But the danger which arises from ignorance in the voter can not
be denied. It covers a field far wider than that of negro suffrage and
the present condition of the race. It is a danger that lurks and hides
in the sources and fountains of power in every state. We have no
standard by which to measure the disaster that may be brought upon us
by ignorance and vice in the citizens when joined to corruption and
fraud in the suffrage.
The voters of the Union, who make and unmake constitutions, and
upon whose will hang the destinies of our governments, can transmit
their supreme authority to no successors save the coming generation of
voters, who are the sole heirs of sovereign power. If that generation
comes to its inheritance blinded by ignorance and corrupted by vice,
the fall of the Republic will be certain and remediless.
The census has already sounded the alarm in the appalling
figures which mark how dangerously high the tide of illiteracy has
risen among our voters and their children.
To the South this question is of supreme importance. But the
responsibility for the existence of slavery did not rest upon the South
alone. The nation itself is responsible for the extension of the
suffrage, and is under special obligations to aid in removing the
illiteracy which it has added to the voting population. For the North
and South alike there is but one remedy. All the constitutional power
of the nation and of the States and all the volunteer forces of the
people should be surrendered to meet this danger by the savory
influence of universal education.
It is the high privilege and sacred duty of those now living to
educate their successors and fit them, by intelligence and virtue, for
the inheritance which awaits them.
In this beneficent work sections and races should be forgotten
and partisanship should be unknown. Let our people find a new meaning
in the divine oracle which declares that "a little child shall lead
them," for our own little children will soon control the destinies of
the Republic.
My countrymen, we do not now differ in our judgment concerning
the controversies of past generations, and fifty years hence our
children will not be divided in their opinions concerning our
controversies. They will surely bless their fathers and their fathers'
God that the Union was preserved, that slavery was overthrown, and that
both races were made equal before the law. We may hasten or we may
retard, but we can not prevent, the final reconciliation. Is it not
possible for us now to make a truce with time by anticipating and
accepting its inevitable verdict?
Enterprises of the highest importance to our moral and material
well-being unite us and offer ample employment of our best powers. Let
all our people, leaving behind them the battlefields of dead issues,
move forward and in their strength of liberty and the restored Union
win the grander victories of peace.
The prosperity which now prevails is without parallel in our
history. Fruitful seasons have done much to secure it, but they have
not done all. The preservation of the public credit and the resumption
of specie payments, so successfully attained by the Administration of
my predecessors, have enabled our people to secure the blessings which
the seasons brought.
By the experience of commercial nations in all ages it has been
found that gold and silver afford the only safe foundation for a
monetary system. Confusion has recently been created by variations in
the relative value of the two metals, but I confidently believe that
arrangements can be made between the leading commercial nations which
will secure the general use of both metals. Congress should provide
that the compulsory coinage of silver now required by law may not
disturb our monetary system by driving either metal out of circulation.
If possible, such an adjustment should be made that the purchasing
power of every coined dollar will be exactly equal to its debt-paying
power in all the markets of the world.
The chief duty of the National Government in connection with the
currency of the country is to coin money and declare its value. Grave
doubts have been entertained whether Congress is authorized by the
Constitution to make any form of paper money legal tender. The present
issue of United States notes has been sustained by the necessities of
war; but such paper should depend for its value and currency upon its
convenience in use and its prompt redemption in coin at the will of the
holder, and not upon its compulsory circulation. These notes are not
money, but promises to pay money. If the holders demand it, the promise
should be kept.
The refunding of the national debt at a lower rate of interest
should be accomplished without compelling the withdrawal of the
national-bank notes, and thus disturbing the business of the country.
I venture to refer to the position I have occupied on financial
questions during a long service in Congress, and to say that time and
experience have strengthened the opinions I have so often expressed on
these subjects.
The finances of the Government shall suffer no detriment which it may be possible for my Administration to prevent.
The interests of agriculture deserve more attention from the
Government than they have yet received. The farms of the United States
afford homes and employment for more than one-half our people, and
furnish much the largest part of all our exports. As the Government
lights our coasts for the protection of mariners and the benefit of
commerce, so it should give to the tillers of the soil the best lights
of practical science and experience.
Our manufacturers are rapidly making us industrially
independent, and are opening to capital and labor new and profitable
fields of employment. Their steady and healthy growth should still be
matured. Our facilities for transportation should be promoted by the
continued improvement of our harbors and great interior waterways and
by the increase of our tonnage on the ocean.
The development of the world's commerce has led to an urgent
demand for shortening the great sea voyage around Cape Horn by
constructing ship canals or railways across the isthmus which unites
the continents. Various plans to this end have been suggested and will
need consideration, but none of them has been sufficiently matured to
warrant the United States in extending pecuniary aid. The subject,
however, is one which will immediately engage the attention of the
Government with a view to a thorough protection to American interests.
We will urge no narrow policy nor seek peculiar or exclusive privileges
in any commercial route; but, in the language of my predecessor, I
believe it to be the right "and duty of the United States to assert and
maintain such supervision and authority over any interoceanic canal
across the isthmus that connects North and South America as will
protect our national interest."
The Constitution guarantees absolute religious freedom. Congress
is prohibited from making any law respecting an establishment of
religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The Territories of
the United States are subject to the direct legislative authority of
Congress, and hence the General Government is responsible for any
violation of the Constitution in any of them. It is therefore a
reproach to the Government that in the most populous of the Territories
the constitutional guaranty is not enjoyed by the people and the
authority of Congress is set at naught. The Mormon Church not only
offends the moral sense of manhood by sanctioning polygamy, but
prevents the administration of justice through ordinary
instrumentalities of law.
In my judgment it is the duty of Congress, while respecting to
the uttermost the conscientious convictions and religious scruples of
every citizen, to prohibit within its jurisdiction all criminal
practices, especially of that class which destroy the family relations
and endanger social order. Nor can any ecclesiastical organization be
safely permitted to usurp in the smallest degree the functions and
powers of the National Government.
The civil service can never be placed on a satisfactory basis
until it is regulated by law. For the good of the service itself, for
the protection of those who are intrusted with the appointing power
against the waste of time and obstruction to the public business caused
by the inordinate pressure for place, and for the protection of
incumbents against intrigue and wrong, I shall at the proper time ask
Congress to fix the tenure of the minor offices of the several
Executive Departments and prescribe the grounds upon which removals
shall be made during the terms for which incumbents have been appointed.
Finally, acting always within the authority and limitations of
the Constitution, invading neither the rights of the States nor the
reserved rights of the people, it will be the purpose of my
Administration to maintain the authority of the nation in all places
within its jurisdiction; to enforce obedience to all the laws of the
Union in the interests of the people; to demand rigid economy in all
the expenditures of the Government, and to require the honest and
faithful service of all executive officers, remembering that the
offices were created, not for the benefit of incumbents or their
supporters, but for the service of the Government.
And now, fellow-citizens, I am about to assume the great trust
which you have committed to my hands. I appeal to you for that earnest
and thoughtful support which makes this Government in fact, as it is in
law, a government of the people.
I shall greatly rely upon the wisdom and patriotism of Congress
and of those who may share with me the responsibilities and duties of
administration, and, above all, upon our efforts to promote the welfare
of this great people and their Government I reverently invoke the
support and blessings of Almighty God.
(Webmaster Note: Mormon Senator Harry Reid would have made a great 19th century Anti-Mormon)
Reid: Polygamous groups are criminal gangs
July 24, 2008
WASHINGTON, July 24 (UPI) -- Polygamous groups are criminal gangs that commit welfare fraud and tax evasion as well as sexual abuse, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday.
Reid, D-Nev., a Mormon, spoke at the opening of a Judiciary Committee hearing on the communities, the Deseret Morning News reported. He said he was glad the hearing was being held on Pioneer Day, a Utah holiday commemorating the arrival of the Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City.
"I am here to tell you that polygamist communities in the United States are a form of organized crime," he said. "The most obvious crime being committed in these communities is bigamy, child abuse -- teen and preteen girls are forced to marry older men and bear their children."
Reid proposed a federal-state task force to police polygamous sects, CNN said. "The lawless conduct of polygamous communities in the United States deserves national and federal action," Reid told the Washington hearing.
Polygamists, including women in long dresses, packed the hearing room. The focus was on law enforcement, and the polygamists did not testify although former sect members did.
Bill Number: S. 3313 (IS)
Bill Title: Victims of Polygamy Assistance Act of 2008
(Introduced in Senate)
Sponsor: Sen Reid, Harry View
all legislation sponsored by this member.
Introduced: 2008/07/23
Latest Major Action: 2008/07/23 Referred to Senate committee.
Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Notes: There are no notes for this Bill
S 3313 IS
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3313
To establish a Federal Polygamy Task Force, to authorize assistance for victims of polygamy, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 23, 2008
Mr. REID introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To establish a Federal Polygamy Task Force, to authorize assistance for victims of polygamy, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Victims of Polygamy Assistance Act of 2008'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Despite the fact that polygamy has been illegal in the United States for over 100 years, the practice of polygamy involving underage marriages is growing. Sizable polygamist communities exist in Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, and are expanding into other States.
(2) Polygamist communities are typically controlled by organizations that engage in widespread and systematic violations of State laws and the laws of the United States in order to enrich their leaders and maintain control over their members.
(3) The crimes perpetrated by these organizations include child abuse, domestic violence, welfare fraud, tax evasion, public corruption, witness tampering, and transporting victims across State lines.
(4) Due to the systematic and sophisticated nature of these crimes, State and local law enforcement agencies would benefit from the assistance of the Federal Government as they investigate and prosecute these organizations and their leaders for violations of State law. In addition, violations of Federal law associated with polygamy should be investigated and prosecuted directly by Federal authorities.
(5) The work of State and Federal law enforcement agencies to combat crimes by polygamist organizations would benefit from enhanced collaboration and information-sharing among such agencies.
(6) The establishment of a task force within the Department of Justice to coordinate Federal efforts and collaborate with State agencies would aid in the investigation and prosecution of criminal activities of polygamist organizations in both Federal and State courts.
(7) Polygamist organizations isolate, control, manipulate, and threaten victims with retribution should they ever abandon the organization. Individuals who choose to testify against polygamist organizations in Federal or State court have unique needs, including social services and witness protection support, that warrant Federal assistance.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF A FEDERAL POLYGAMY TASK FORCE.
(a) Establishment- There is established within the Department of Justice a Federal Polygamy Task Force, which shall consist of the Deputy Attorney General, the United States attorneys from affected Federal judicial districts, representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Health and Human Services, and any officer of the Federal Government whom the Deputy Attorney General considers necessary to strengthen Federal law enforcement activities and provide State and local law enforcement officials the assistance they need to address the illegal activity of one or more polygamist organizations.
(b) Purposes- The Federal Polygamy Task Force established under subsection (a) shall--
(1) formulate effective responses to the unique set of crimes committed by polygamist organizations;
(2) establish partnerships with State and local law enforcement agencies to share relevant information and strengthen State and Federal efforts to combat crimes perpetrated by polygamist organizations;
(3) assist States by providing strategies and support for the protection of witnesses;
(4) track the criminal behavior of polygamist organizations that cross State and international borders; and
(5) ensure that local officials charged with protecting the public are not corrupted because of financial, family, or membership ties to a polygamist organization.
SEC. 4. POLYGAMY VICTIM ASSISTANCE DISCRETIONARY GRANTS.
The Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10601 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 1404E the following:
`SEC. 1404F. ASSISTANCE FOR VICTIMS OF POLYGAMY.
`(a) In General- The Director may make grants as provided in section 1404(c)(1)(A) to State, tribal, and local prosecutors' offices, law enforcement agencies, courts, jails, and correctional institutions, and to qualified public and private entities, to develop, establish, and maintain programs for the enforcement of rights and provision of social services (including witness protection, housing, education, vocational training, mental health services, child care, and medical treatment) for an individual who is exploited or otherwise victimized by practitioners of polygamy.
`(b) Authorization of Appropriations- In addition to funds made available under section 1402(d), there are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section--
`(1) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; and
`(2) $2,500,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.
`(c) False Claims Act- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, amounts collected pursuant to sections 3729 through 3731 of title 31, United States Code (commonly known as the `False Claims Act'), may be used for grants under this section, subject to appropriation.'.
SEC. 5. POLYGAMY INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION ASSISTANCE DISCRETIONARY GRANTS.
Section 506(a) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3756(a)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking `and' at the end;
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at the end and inserting `; and'; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
`(3) $2,000,000, to be granted by the Attorney General to States and units of local government to investigate and prosecute polygamist organizations that violate Federal, State, or local laws.'.
Mormon United States Senator Harry Reid of Nevada