Second Inaugural Address

Summary

On 4 March 1793, in the Senate chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia, George Washington began his second term with the shortest inaugural address ever given: two paragraphs of about 135 words. The electors had again chosen him without a dissenting vote, but the quarrel between Hamilton and Jefferson inside his own cabinet was already feeding rival newspapers and the first parties, and within weeks news that France and Britain were at war would force the question of neutrality on him. The first paragraph says he is "again called upon by the voice of my country" and defers any fuller thanks until "the occasion proper for it shall arrive." He offers no program, no review of the first term, and no word about the factions. The second paragraph turns wholly to the oath the Constitution requires before any official act. Washington then adds a condition of his own: if he is ever found to have broken its injunctions "willingly or knowingly," he asks to be subject not only to constitutional punishment but to "the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony." That clause carries the speech. The senators, justices, and officials in the chamber become witnesses with standing to rebuke him, so that accountability rests in public memory as well as in the impeachment power. Beside the long, providential, anxious first inaugural of 1789, the 1793 text shows a president who now knows the weight of the office and receives it as a burden. Its brevity is itself the argument: the oath, not the orator, makes the president.

Plot or Argument

• Called a second time

  Washington says the voice of his country has summoned him again to the office of Chief Magistrate and acknowledges the confidence placed in him by "the people of united America" without enlarging on it.

• Thanks deferred

  He postpones any full expression of gratitude to a fitter occasion, which keeps the ceremony from turning into a celebration of the man or a defense of his first term.

• The oath as the day's business

  He notes that the Constitution requires an oath before the President performs any official act and announces that he will take it in the presence of those assembled.

• Witnesses made judges

  Washington closes by inviting, besides constitutional punishment, the reproach of every witness should he knowingly or willingly violate the oath.

Lessons

• Brevity as a constitutional statement

  Washington had every opening in 1793 to answer the Republican press and defend Hamilton's program, and he took none of it. The silence is deliberate: the oath, not the speech, makes the presidency, and a second term begins with duty rather than vindication.

  • What might Washington have defended or announced in March 1793, and what does leaving it all out communicate?
  • Why would a president who disliked partisan quarrels decline even to mention them on this occasion?
  • Does a 135-word inaugural honor the office or risk seeming aloof from the people? Argue from the two paragraphs.

• Accountability before witnesses

  The penalty clause asks the audience to remember the oath and to upbraid him if he breaks it. Washington places himself under two judgments at once: the legal one of impeachment and the moral one of public reproach from those who saw him swear.

  • Why does Washington limit the condition to violations committed "willingly or knowingly"?
  • What is the difference between constitutional punishment and "upbraidings," and which does he seem to fear more?
  • Who sat in the Senate chamber that day, and what standing does the speech give them over the President?

• Receiving honor without enlarging it

  He calls the office a "distinguished honor" and speaks of the confidence reposed in him, yet he defers his thanks. Gratitude is real but subordinate to the task, a pattern of restraint that the Farewell Address of 1796 will develop at length.

  • Why postpone thanks to a later day rather than give them now?
  • How does the phrase "the people of united America" frame the source of his authority?
  • Compare the restraint of 1793 with the self-doubt of 1789: which seems to you the more convincing humility, and why?

Context

Washington's second term opened under strain. Hamilton's financial program and Jefferson's opposition had split the cabinet, the Gazette of the United States and the National Gazette traded attacks, and the French Revolution was dividing American opinion. Within weeks of the inauguration, word arrived that France had declared war on Britain, and on 22 April 1793 Washington issued his Proclamation of Neutrality.

Composition

Washington delivered the address in the Senate chamber on the upper floor of Congress Hall, Philadelphia, on 4 March 1793; Associate Justice William Cushing administered the oath. It was the first inauguration held in Philadelphia. The text stored here follows the Project Gutenberg transcription (#4938).

Reception

The address is remembered chiefly for its length, still the shortest of any inaugural. Republican writers in 1793 were already complaining that presidential ceremonies imitated monarchy; the austere address itself gave them little to attack.

Comparisons

• First Inaugural Address

  The 1789 address spends more than 1,400 words on providential humility, reluctance, and hints of policy; the 1793 text keeps only acceptance and oath, showing how four years in office changed Washington's sense of what the ceremony required.

• Farewell Address and Selected Letters

  The Farewell Address of 1796 supplies the warnings about parties, sectional jealousy, and foreign attachments that the second inaugural pointedly withholds; read together they show what Washington chose not to say in 1793.

• Inaugural Address (John Adams)

  Adams in 1797 delivered a long review of the Constitution and a tribute to Washington; set beside his predecessor's two paragraphs, it shows how quickly the inaugural became a vehicle for argument.

Quotes

For Students

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

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The phrase "again called upon" and what it implies about who summoned and who obeyed.
• The postponement of thanks until "the occasion proper for it shall arrive."
• The rule that the Constitution requires the oath before any official act of the President.
• The self-imposed penalty of public reproach in the final sentence.

Key terms and names

Chief Magistrate

Eighteenth-century title for the chief executive; Washington uses it for the presidency.

Oath of office

The oath prescribed in Article II, Section 1, which the President must take before acting.

Upbraidings

Reproaches or rebukes; Washington invites them from the witnesses if he knowingly breaks the oath.

Unanimous election

In 1789 and again in 1792 every presidential elector cast a vote for Washington.

Congress Hall

The Philadelphia building where Congress met from 1790 to 1800; the oath was taken in its Senate chamber.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What two things does Washington say in the first paragraph, and what does he put off?
2. Comprehension What does the Constitution require before the President's first official act, according to the speech?
3. Interpretation Why does Washington say his summons comes from "the voice of my country" rather than from the electors?
4. Interpretation What does the penalty clause assume about the relation between the President and those who watch him swear?
5. Interpretation How does the absence of any word about parties or about Europe function as a message in March 1793?
6. Big Question Should leaders say less when public life is loud with faction, or does silence leave the field to partisans?
7. Big Question Is a promise made before witnesses more binding than one made in private? Draw on Washington's oath clause and Ecclesiastes 5:4-5.

Faith Connections

• Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 (Scripture)

  The Preacher warns that it is better not to vow than to vow and not pay; Washington's clause treats his public vow with the same gravity and invites reproach if he fails to keep it.

• Psalm 15:4 (Scripture)

  The psalm honors the one who "sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not"; Washington binds himself to the oath even at the cost of public rebuke.

• Cicero, De Officiis III (Great Conversation)

  Cicero's account of Regulus, who returned to Carthage rather than break his sworn word, gives a classical measure for Washington's insistence that the oath binds before witnesses.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: The constitutional oath, taken publicly, is the substance of the presidency; Washington accepts the renewed office, defers praise to another day, and binds himself to answer both to the law and to the reproach of those who witness his oath.

Rhetorical device: conditional self-imprecation. He asks, if he has violated the oath "willingly or knowingly," to be "subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony."

Debate: Resolved: that a president beginning a second term should say no more than Washington said in 1793.

Memory Work

again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate

Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office

Writing Prompts

Essay: Explain how Washington's 135 words answer the partisan climate of 1793 without naming it, citing the deferral of thanks and the oath clause.

Comparison with First Inaugural Address: Compare the 1789 and 1793 inaugurals: what did Washington stop saying after four years in office, and what remained essential to him?

Medical Lens

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

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Draft a 1,000-word second inaugural for Washington that defends his first term, then cut it back to 135 words and explain what each cut protected.

• Dialogue

  A Federalist and a Republican congressman walk out of Congress Hall on 4 March 1793 and argue over what Washington's silence about parties meant.

• Essay

  Is public reproach a real check on a president? Argue from Washington's penalty clause and one later episode of your choosing.

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.

• His Excellency: George Washington, Joseph J. Ellis

  A concise life that covers the strains of the second term, the neutrality crisis, and Washington's sense of public reputation.