The period for a new election of a citizen to
administer the executive government of the United
States being not far distant, and the time actually
arrived when your thoughts must be employed in
designating the person who is to be clothed with that
important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as
it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the
public voice, that I should now apprise you of the
resolution I have formed, to decline being considered
among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.
I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to
be assured that this resolution has not been taken
without a strict regard to all the considerations
appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful
citizen to his country—and that, in withdrawing the
tender of service which silence in my situation might
imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for
your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect
for your past kindness; but am supported by a full
conviction that the step is compatible with both.
The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the
office to which your suffrages have twice called me,
have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the
opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared
to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would
have been much earlier in my power, consistently with
motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to
return to that retirement from which I had been
reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to
do this, previous to the last election, had even led to
the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but
mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical
posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the
unanimous advice of persons entitled to my
confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.
I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as
well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of
inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or
propriety, and am persuaded whatever partiality may
be retained for my services, that in the present
circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove
my determination to retire.
The impressions with which I first undertook the
arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion.
In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I
have, with good intentions, contributed towards the
organization and administration of the government,
the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment
was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the
inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my
own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others,
has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself;
and every day the increasing weight of years
admonishes me more and more that the shade of
retirement is as necessary to me as it will be
welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have
given peculiar value to my services, they were
temporary, I have the consolation to believe, that
while choice and prudence invite me to quit the
political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.
In looking forward to the moment which is
intended to terminate the career of my public life, my
feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep
acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I
owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has
conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast
confidence with which it has supported me; and for
the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting
my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and
persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal.
If benefits have resulted to our country from these
services, let it always be remembered to your praise,
and as an instructive example in our annals that
under circumstances in which the passions agitated in
every direction were liable to mislead, amidst
appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of
fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not
unfrequently want of success has countenanced the
spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was
the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of
the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly
penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to
my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows
that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens
of its beneficence; that your Union and brotherly
affection may be perpetual; that the free constitution,
which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly
maintained; that its administration in every
department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue;
that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these
states, under the auspices of liberty, may be made
complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent
a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory
of recommending it to the applause, the affection,
and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.
Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for
your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and
the apprehension of danger, natural to that
solicitude, urge me on an occasion like the present,
to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to
recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments
which are the result of much reflection, of no
inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me
all important to the permanency of your felicity as a