On this day, and probably this very hour, the Congress of
the United States will declare the verdict of the people, making you their
President. It is my pleasurable duty, in behalf of the people of Ohio, speaking
through this General Assembly, to welcome you to their capital.
Never, in the history of this government, has such fearful
responsibility rested upon the chief executive of the nation, as will now
devolve upon you. Never, since the memorable time our patriotic fathers gave existence
to the American republic, have the people looked with such intensity of feeling
to the inauguration and future policy of a President, as they do to yours.
I need not assure you that the people of Ohio have full
confidence in your ability and patriotism, and will respond to you in their
loyalty to the Union and the Constitution. It would seem, sir, that the great
problem of self-government is to be solved under your administration; all
nations are deeply interested in its solution, and they wait with breathless
anxiety to know whether this form of government, which has been the admiration
of the world, is to be a failure or not.
It is the earnest and united prayer of our people, that the
same kind Providence, which protected us in our colonial struggles, and has
attended us thus far in our prosperity and greatness, will so imbue your mind
with wisdom that you may dispel the dark clouds that hang over our political horizon,
and thereby secure the return of harmony and fraternal feeling to our now
distracted and unhappy country. God grant their prayer may be fully realized!
Again, I bid you a cordial welcome to our capital.
SOURCE: Journal of the
House of Representatives of the State of Ohio: For the Second Session of the
Fifty-fourth General Assembly, Commencing on Monday, January 7, 1861,
Volume 57, p. 173
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