Second Inaugural Address

Summary

Thomas Jefferson's second inaugural, delivered in the Senate chamber on 4 March 1805, reads as an account rendered to the voters who had just re-elected him by a wide margin. He recalls the principles he declared in 1801 and says his conscience tells him he has kept them. Abroad, the administration has cultivated friendship with all nations on equal terms, convinced that "with nations as with individuals our interests soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties." At home, cutting "unnecessary offices" allowed the repeal of internal taxes, whose collectors had begun a "process of domiciliary vexation." The remaining revenue falls on imports, paid mostly by buyers of foreign luxuries, so that Jefferson can ask, "What farmer, what mechanic, what laborer ever sees a taxgatherer of the United States?" Once the debt is paid, he proposes that surplus revenue, by constitutional amendment, go to roads, canals, education, and manufactures within the States. He defends the Louisiana Purchase against those who feared a larger territory would break the Union: "The larger our association the less will it be shaken by local passions." He explains why he has proclaimed no religious exercises, leaving them to churches and State authorities. A long passage on the Native peoples voices pity for nations "overwhelmed by the current" of settlement, describes federal efforts to teach agriculture and household arts, and blames resistance on leaders who revere ancestral custom; Jefferson draws an open parallel to the "antiphilosophists" among his own countrymen. The second half turns to the press. Federalist papers had attacked the administration relentlessly; Jefferson calls the episode an experiment proving that truth, unaided by power, can defend itself, and that "the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint." He closes hoping doubting Federalists will join the union of opinion, admitting his own fallibility, and asking the favor of the Being who led the fathers "as Israel of old."

Plot or Argument

• The principles of 1801 kept

  Jefferson thanks the voters for "this new proof of confidence" and says he has acted up to the principles declared at his first inauguration "according to its obvious import."

• Justice as foreign policy

  Friendship with all nations, justice on all occasions, and equal terms of trade rest on the conviction that a nation's true interests cannot be separated from its moral duties.

• No taxgatherer at the farmer's door

  Abolishing needless offices allowed repeal of internal taxes; import duties now fund the government, retire the debt, and might later, by amendment, pay for roads, canals, and schools in the States.

• Louisiana and the federative principle

  Against fears that expansion would break the Union, Jefferson argues that a larger association is less shaken by local passions and that Americans, not strangers, should settle the Mississippi's far bank.

• Religion and the Indian nations

  He leaves religious exercises to churches and States, then describes the Native peoples' displacement, federal programs of agricultural instruction, and the resistance of traditional leaders.

• The experiment of a free press

  Newspaper slanders were left to State law and public judgment; the voters' verdict at the polls shows that truth and reason can hold their ground without federal restraint.

• Union of opinion and a closing prayer

  Jefferson hopes doubting brethren will see that they share the same aims, confesses that age will bring errors, and asks the God who led the fathers to guide the nation's servants.

Lessons

• An inaugural as an account rendered

  Jefferson turns the second inaugural into a report: "At home, fellow-citizens, you best know whether we have done well or ill." He treats the first inaugural as a promise and the first term as its test, making the voters judges of the record.

  • Which achievements does Jefferson choose to report first, and why?
  • Why does he credit the measures to the citizens, the legislature, and his "auxiliaries" rather than to himself?
  • What is gained, and what is risked, when a leader asks to be judged by a record rather than by promises?

• Can a free press be left to public judgment?

  After four years of attack in the papers, Jefferson argues that a government acting openly cannot "be written down by falsehood and defamation," because citizens will weigh the charges. He still allows State libel laws, but holds that "the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint."

  • Why does Jefferson call the period of press attacks an "experiment"?
  • How does he distinguish the "liberty of the press" from "its demoralizing licentiousness"?
  • What happens to Jefferson's argument if citizens do not "look on, cool and collected"?

• The passage on the Native peoples

  Jefferson pities nations "overwhelmed by the current" of settlement and proposes agriculture and the domestic arts as their path to survival. He frames resistance as custom against reason and compares it to the "antiphilosophists" among white Americans. Students should identify the assumptions about improvement at work before judging the policy.

  • What does Jefferson believe the Native peoples must do to "maintain their place in existence"?
  • Why does he compare traditional leaders among the tribes with opponents of reason among his own countrymen?
  • How does this passage compare with the pledges toward Indian nations in other early inaugurals?

Context

Jefferson's first term had brought the purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803, the repeal of the Federalist internal taxes, reductions in the army and navy, and steady payment of the public debt. In 1804 he won re-election over Charles Cotesworth Pinckney by 162 electoral votes to 14. Federalist newspapers nonetheless continued fierce personal attacks, and conflicts with Britain and France over neutral shipping were growing.

Composition

Delivered 4 March 1805 in the Senate chamber of the unfinished Capitol in Washington. The text stored here follows the Project Gutenberg transcription (#4938); spelling and punctuation follow that source, including "burthening" and "taxgatherer."

Reception

The address has been read chiefly for its defense of the Louisiana Purchase, its statement on religious exercises, and its argument for leaving the press to public opinion. The peaceful foreign policy it praised soon gave way to the Embargo of 1807 and growing conflict with Britain.

Comparisons

• First Inaugural Address (Jefferson)

  In 1801 Jefferson declared "We are all republicans, we are all federalists" and listed his principles; in 1805 he reports on keeping them and still hopes for "that entire union of opinion." Read the two as promise and account.

• Farewell Address and Selected Letters

  Washington warned against party spirit and permanent foreign attachments; Jefferson's 1805 claims of friendship with all nations and his account of partisan press attacks show both warnings under test.

• First Inaugural Address

  Madison in 1809 inherited the embargo crisis that ended the peaceful commerce Jefferson celebrated in 1805; compare how each describes America's relations with warring Europe.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• Jefferson's claim that his first term kept the principles of the first inaugural.
• The farmer, mechanic, and laborer who never see a federal taxgatherer.
• The defense of the Louisiana Purchase and the "federative principle."
• The long paragraphs on the Native peoples and their leaders.
• The "experiment" of leaving the press to public judgment.

Key terms and names

Internal taxes

Federal excise and similar taxes collected within the country, repealed in 1802; Jefferson says their collectors brought "domiciliary vexation."

Louisiana Purchase

The 1803 acquisition from France of the territory west of the Mississippi, which Jefferson defends against fears for the Union.

Federative principle

The idea that a union of States can extend over a large territory; Jefferson asks "who can limit the extent" of its operation.

Licentiousness

Liberty abused without restraint; Jefferson distinguishes it from "the inestimable liberty of the press."

Antiphilosophists

Jefferson's word for those who oppose the rule of reason and "dread reformation," applied both to tribal leaders and, by implication, to his critics.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension How does Jefferson say the federal government now raises its revenue, and who chiefly pays it?
2. Comprehension What does Jefferson say he has done, and not done, regarding religious exercises?
3. Interpretation Why does Jefferson think a larger union will be "less shaken by local passions"?
4. Interpretation How does Jefferson use the election of 1804 as evidence in his argument about the press?
5. Interpretation What assumptions about reason and custom shape Jefferson's account of the Native peoples?
6. Big Question Can a free people be trusted to sort truth from falsehood without government restraint of the press?
7. Big Question Is it true that a nation's "interests soundly calculated" never conflict with its moral duties?

Faith Connections

• Deuteronomy 8:7-10 (Scripture)

  Jefferson's closing prayer to the Being who led the fathers "as Israel of old" to a land "flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life" echoes Moses' description of the good land and his warning to remember the Giver.

• Micah 6:8 (Scripture)

  "Do justly, and love mercy" stands beside Jefferson's claim that in foreign affairs "we have done them justice on all occasions."

• Milton, Areopagitica (Great Conversation)

  Milton's confidence that Truth, in a free and open encounter, will defeat Falsehood is the older form of Jefferson's "experiment" that free discussion, "unaided by power," protects truth.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Because the first term kept the principles of 1801, producing peace, lower taxes, a larger territory, and a government that survived slander without suppressing the press, Jefferson argues, citizens should approve its course and former opponents should join the union of opinion.

Rhetorical device: rhetorical question. "What farmer, what mechanic, what laborer ever sees a taxgatherer of the United States?" invites hearers to supply the answer from their own experience.

Debate: Resolved: that Jefferson was right in 1805 that "the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint."

Memory Work

suppression of unnecessary offices, of useless establishments and expenses, enabled us to discontinue our internal taxes

cultivate the friendship of all nations, and especially of those with which we have the most important relations

Writing Prompts

Essay: Jefferson calls the press attacks of his first term an "experiment" whose result proves that truth can defend itself. Explain his argument and evaluate it.

Comparison with First Inaugural Address (Jefferson): Compare Jefferson's first and second inaugurals: which principles announced in 1801 does he claim to have fulfilled by 1805, and which does he pass over?

Medical Lens

Presidential inaugurals concern constitutional politics and national crisis; they have no medical content for this library's lens.

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Make a two-column ledger of Jefferson's 1805 report: "promised in 1801" and "reported done in 1805," using the text of both inaugurals.

• Dialogue

  Write an exchange between a Federalist editor and a Republican farmer in 1805 about Jefferson's claim that the press, "confined to truth," needs no other restraint.

• Essay

  Jefferson argues that a larger republic is "less shaken by local passions." Explain his reasoning and test it against the later history of the Union.

Further Reading

• Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States, Avalon Project / GPO

  Parallel official texts for classroom comparison.

• The Rhetorical Presidency, Jeffrey K. Tulis

  A study of how inaugural and other presidential speech reshaped the office.