March 8

March 8 is International Women's Day

1822 President Monroe sends a special message to Congress proposing US recognition of Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Mexico.

1907  Franky Avery, a bicyclist, arrived in Cheyenne during his cross country bike ride.  The bicycle, much more than the automobile, was the up and coming modern means of transportation at the time.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1917   The Cheyenne State Leader for March 8, 1917: Troops Rushed To Protect Border
 

Juarez was in the news again, and troops were going to the border.

And the Senate was preparing to adopt the cloture rule.

The Natrona County Tribune for March 8, 1917. Wyoming Boys Leave Impression
 

Wyoming Guardsmen were getting praise, some in  Washington D. C. were not, and Wilson was taking up arming merchantmen.

And J. B. Okie was putting in some shearing sheds.
1932  The campus of the University of Wyoming was photographed with heavy snow cover.

1941  National Guardsmen paraded in Casper prior to deployment.  Apparently 160 men were in the parade, although I would have thought the 115th Cav would have been fully activated by this time.

1977  Martin's Cove added to the registry of National Historic Sites.

2018   International Women's Day, 2018
 

Today is International Women's Day, as March 8 always is.

I've put this poster up before, it apparently means something like "let's rebuilt together", perhaps an appropriate slogan for International Women's Day 2018.

I'm not sure what I make of this day, as I find myself in the category, quite often, of marveling at modern contemporary society struggling to cure its ills created by becoming too modern by reaching vaguely out towards the standards of the past.  And frankly International Women's Day has a rather Communist, if you will, sound to it.

German "Women's Day" poster from 1914.  This poster was rather obviously sponsored by the German Socialist left.  It was also banned by the Imperial German government.

None of which would mean that the day, which has been endorsed for some time by the United Nations, isn't legitimate.  Nor would my comments suggest that women don't deserve an International Day.  Indeed they do.

And on that, the theme for 2018 perhaps very ably demonstrates that.  The theme this year is "Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives."  The UN says of this year's theme:

This year’s theme captures the vibrant life of the women activists whose passion and commitment have won women’s rights over the generations, and successfully brought change. We celebrate an unprecedented global movement for women’s rights, equality, safety and justice, recognizing the tireless work of activists who have been central to this global push for gender equality.

All that's probably true, and indeed brave women all over the world do struggle as noted.  Cudos to the UN for noting it, even if the UN rather oddly regards nations co-equally that abuse women's rights, as well as act anti democratically in all sorts of other ways.

In the US I suspect that there won't be much attention to the plight of rural women around the globe. There should be, but we're in the second half of the "Me Too" era which demonstrates a different set of problems. . . maybe. . . for women. An age-old one that social progressive keep trying to solve by suggesting that that they've discovered a new standard that's actually a very, very old one.  That's had its own interesting dynamics, as those same forces struggle not to admit the historical truth that equality for women is a movement that's not only western, but Christian.  There's a reason that western societies are in the forefront of this movement, and always have been, and that's where that reason is to be found.

2024.  President Biden delivered the 2024 State of the Union Address.

The United States Capitol

Good evening. 

Mr. Speaker. Madam Vice President. Members of Congress. My Fellow Americans. 

In January 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt came to this chamber to speak to the nation. 

He said, “I address you at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union.” 

Hitler was on the march. War was raging in Europe. 

President Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up the Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary moment.   

Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world. 

Tonight I come to the same chamber to address the nation. 

Now it is we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the Union. 

And yes, my purpose tonight is to both wake up this Congress, and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either. 

Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today. 

What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time. 

Overseas, Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond. 

If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not. 

But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking. They are not asking for American soldiers. 

In fact, there are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine. And I am determined to keep it that way. 

But now assistance for Ukraine is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our leadership in the world. 

It wasn’t that long ago when a Republican President, Ronald Reagan, thundered, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” 

Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want.” 

A former American President actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader. 

It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable. 

America is a founding member of NATO the military alliance of democratic nations created after World War II to prevent war and keep the peace.  

Today, we’ve made NATO stronger than ever. 

We welcomed Finland to the Alliance last year, and just this morning, Sweden officially joined NATO, and their Prime Minister is here tonight. 

Mr. Prime Minister, welcome to NATO, the strongest military alliance the world has ever known. 

I say this to Congress: we must stand up to Putin. Send me the Bipartisan National Security Bill. 

History is watching. 

If the United States walks away now, it will put Ukraine at risk. 

Europe at risk. The free world at risk, emboldening others who wish to do us harm. 

 

 

My message to President Putin is simple.  

We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down. 

History is watching, just like history watched three years ago on January 6th. 

Insurrectionists stormed this very Capitol and placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy. 

Many of you were here on that darkest of days. 

We all saw with our own eyes these insurrectionists were not patriots. 

 

They had come to stop the peaceful transfer of power and to overturn the will of the people. 

January 6th and the lies about the 2020 election, and the plots to steal the election, posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War. 

But they failed. America stood strong and democracy prevailed. 

But we must be honest the threat remains and democracy must be defended. 

My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6th. 

I will not do that. 

This is a moment to speak the truth and bury the lies. 

And here’s the simplest truth. You can’t love your country only when you win. 

As I’ve done ever since being elected to office, I ask you all, without regard to party, to join together and defend our democracy! 

Remember your oath of office to defend against all threats foreign and domestic. 

Respect free and fair elections! Restore trust in our institutions! And make clear –political violence  

has absolutely no place in America! 

History is watching. 

And history is watching another assault on freedom.  

Joining us tonight is Latorya Beasley, a social worker from Birmingham, Alabama. 14 months ago tonight, she and her husband welcomed a baby girl thanks to the miracle of IVF. 

She scheduled treatments to have a second child, but the Alabama Supreme Court shut down IVF treatments across the state, unleashed by the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. 

She was told her dream would have to wait. 

What her family has gone through should never have happened. And unless Congress acts, it could happen again. 

So tonight, let’s stand up for families like hers! 

To my friends across the aisle, don’t keep families waiting any longer. Guarantee the right to IVF nationwide! 

Like most Americans, I believe Roe v. Wade got it right. And I thank Vice President Harris for being an incredible leader, defending reproductive freedom and so much more. 

But my predecessor came to office determined  

to see Roe v. Wade overturned. 

He’s the reason it was overturned. In fact, he brags about it. 

Look at the chaos that has resulted. 

Joining us tonight is Kate Cox, a wife and mother  

from Dallas. 

When she became pregnant again, the fetus had a fatal condition. 

Her doctors told Kate that her own life and her ability to have children in the future were at risk if she didn’t act. 

Because Texas law banned abortion, Kate and her husband had to leave the state to get the care she needed. 

What her family has gone through should never have happened as well. But it is happening to so many others. 

There are state laws banning the right to choose, criminalizing doctors, and forcing survivors of rape and incest to leave their states as well to get the care they need. 

Many of you in this Chamber and my predecessor are promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom. 

My God, what freedoms will you take away next? 

In its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court majority wrote, “Women are not without – 

electoral or political power.” 

No kidding. 

Clearly, those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America. 

They found out though when reproductive freedom   

was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again, in 2024. 

If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you, I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again! 

America cannot go back. I am here tonight to show the way forward. Because I know how far we’ve come. 

Four years ago next week, before I came to office, our country was hit by the worst pandemic and the worst economic crisis in a century. 

Remember the fear. Record job losses. Remember the spike in crime. And the murder rate. 

A raging virus that would take more than 1 million American lives and leave millions of loved ones behind. 

A mental health crisis of isolation and loneliness. 

A president, my predecessor, who failed the most basic duty. Any President owes the American people the duty to care. 

That is unforgivable. 

I came to office determined to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. 

And we have. It doesn’t make the news but in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told. 

So let’s tell that story here and now. 

America’s comeback is building a future of American possibilities, building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down, investing in all of America, in all Americans to make sure everyone has a fair shot and we leave no one behind! 

The pandemic no longer controls our lives. The vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer. 

Turning setback into comeback. 

That’s America! 

I inherited an economy that was on the brink. Now our economy is the envy of the world! 

15 million new jobs in just three years – that’s a record! 

Unemployment at 50-year lows. 

A record 16 million Americans are starting small businesses and each one is an act of hope. 

With historic job growth and small business growth for Black, Hispanic, and Asian-Americans. 

800,000 new manufacturing jobs in America and counting. 

More people have health insurance today than ever before. 

The racial wealth gap is the smallest it’s been in 20 years. 

Wages keep going up and inflation keeps coming down! 

Inflation has dropped from 9% to 3% – the lowest in the world! 

And trending lower. 

And now instead of importing foreign products and exporting American jobs, we’re exporting American products and creating American jobs – right here in America where they belong! 

 

 

And the American people are beginning to feel it. 

Consumer studies show consumer confidence is soaring. 

Buy American has been the law of the land since the 1930s.  

 

Past administrations including my predecessor failed to Buy American. 

Not any more. 

On my watch, federal projects like helping to build American roads bridges and highways will be made with American products built by American workers creating good-paying American jobs! 

Thanks to my Chips and Science Act the United States is investing more in research and development than ever before. 

During the pandemic a shortage of semiconductor chips drove up prices for everything from cell phones to automobiles.  

Well instead of having to import semiconductor chips, which America invented I might add, private companies are now investing billions of dollars to build new chip factories here in America! 

Creating tens of thousands of jobs many of them paying over $100,000 a year and don’t require a college degree. 

In fact my policies have attracted $650 Billion of private sector investments in clean energy and advanced manufacturing creating tens of thousands of jobs here in America! 

Thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 46,000 new projects have been announced across your communities – modernizing our roads and bridges, ports and airports, and public transit systems. 

Removing poisonous lead pipes so every child can drink clean water without risk of getting brain damage. 

Providing affordable high speed internet for every American no matter where you live. 

Urban, suburban, and rural communities — in red states and blue. 

Record investments in tribal communities. 

Because of my investments, family farms are better be able to stay in the family and children and grandchildren won’t have to leave home to make a living.  

It’s transformative.  

 

A great comeback story is Belvidere, Illinois. Home to an auto plant for nearly 60 years.  

 

Before I came to office the plant was on its way to shutting down. 

 

Thousands of workers feared for their livelihoods. Hope was fading. 

 

Then I was elected to office and we raised Belvidere repeatedly with the auto company knowing unions make all the difference. 

The UAW worked like hell to keep the plant open and get those jobs back. And together, we succeeded! 

Instead of an auto factory shutting down an auto factory is re-opening and a new state-of-the art battery factory is being built to power those cars. 

Instead of a town being left behind it’s a community moving forward again! 

Because instead of watching auto jobs of the future go overseas 4,000 union workers with higher wages will be building that future, in Belvidere, here in America! 

Here tonight is UAW President, Shawn Fain, a great friend, and a great labor leader. 

And Dawn Simms, a third generation UAW worker  in Belvidere. 

Shawn, I was proud to be the first President in American history to walk a picket line. 

And today Dawn has a job in her hometown providing stability for her family and pride and dignity. 

Showing once again, Wall Street didn’t build this country! 

The middle class built this country! And unions built the middle class! 

When Americans get knocked down, we get back up! 

We keep going! 

That’s America! That’s you, the American people! 

It’s because of you America is coming back!  

It’s because of you, our future is brighter! 

And it’s because of you that tonight we can proudly say the State of our Union is strong and getting stronger!  

 

Tonight I want to talk about the future of possibilities that we can build together. 

A future where the days of trickle-down economics are over and the wealthy and biggest corporations no longer get all the breaks. 

I grew up in a home where not a lot trickled down on my Dad’s kitchen table. 

That’s why I’m determined to turn things around so the middle class does well the poor have a way up and the wealthy still does well. 

We all do well. 

And there’s more to do to make sure you’re feeling the benefits of all we’re doing. 

Americans pay more for prescription drugs than anywhere else. 

It’s wrong and I’m ending it. 

With a law I proposed and signed and not one Republican voted for we finally beat Big Pharma! 

Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin seniors with diabetes only have to pay $35 a month! 

And now I want to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for every American who needs it! 

For years people have talked about it but I finally got it done and gave Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs just like the VA does for our veterans. 

That’s not just saving seniors money. 

It’s saving taxpayers money cutting the federal deficit by $160 Billion because Medicare will no longer have to pay exorbitant prices to Big Pharma. 

This year Medicare is negotiating lower prices for some of the costliest drugs on the market that treat everything from heart disease to arthritis. 

Now it’s time to go further and give Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for 500 drugs over the next decade. 

That will not only save lives it will save taxpayers another $200 Billion! 

Starting next year that same law caps total prescription drug costs for seniors on Medicare at $2,000 a year even for expensive cancer drugs that can cost $10,000, $12,000, $15,000 a year. 

Now I want to cap prescription drug costs at $2,000 a year for everyone! 

Folks Obamacare, known as the Affordable Care Act is still a very big deal. 

Over one hundred million of you can no longer be denied health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. 

But my predecessor and many in this chamber want to take that protection away by repealing the Affordable Care Act I won’t let that happen! 

We stopped you 50 times before and we will stop you again! 

In fact I am protecting it and expanding it. 

I enacted tax credits that save $800 per person per year reducing health care premiums for millions of working families. 

Those tax credits expire next year. 

I want to make those savings permanent! 

Women are more than half of our population but research on women’s health has always been underfunded.  

That’s why we’re launching the first-ever White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, led by Jill who is doing an incredible job as First Lady. 

Pass my plan for $12 Billion to transform women’s health research and benefit millions of lives across America! 

I know the cost of housing is so important to you.  

If inflation keeps coming down mortgage rates will come down as well. 

But I’m not waiting. 

I want to provide an annual tax creditthat will give Americans $400 a month for the next two years as mortgage rates come down to put toward their mortgage when they buy a first home or trade up for a little more space. 

My Administration is also eliminating title insurance fees for federally backed mortgages. 

When you refinance your home this can save you $1,000 or more. 

For millions of renters, we’re cracking down on big landlords who break antitrust laws by price-fixing and driving up rents.  

I’ve cut red tape so more builders can get federal financing, which is already helping build a record 1.7 million housing units nationwide. 

Now pass my plan to build and renovate 2 million  affordable homes and bring those rents down! 

To remain the strongest economy in the world we need the best education system in the world. 

I want to give every child a good start by providing access to pre-school for 3- and 4-year-olds. 

Studies show that children who go to pre-school are nearly 50% more likely to finish high school and go on to earn a 2- or 4-year degree no matter their background. 

I want to expand high-quality tutoring and summer learning time and see to it that every child learns to read by third grade. 

I’m also connecting businesses and high schools so students get hands-on experience and a path to a good-paying job whether or not they go to college. 

And I want to make college more affordable. 

Let’s continue increasing Pell Grants for working- and middle-class families and increase our record investments in HBCUs and Hispanic and Minority-serving Institutions 

I fixed student loan programs to reduce the burden  of student debt for nearly 4 Million Americans including nurses firefighters and others in public service like Keenan Jones a public-school educator in Minnesota who’s here with us tonight. 

He’s educated hundreds of students so they can go to college now he can help his own daughter pay for college.  

Such relief is good for the economy because folks are now able to buy a home start a business even start a family. 

While we’re at it I want to give public school teachers a raise! 

Now let me speak to a question of fundamental fairness for all Americans. 

I’ve been delivering real results in a fiscally responsible way. 

I’ve already cut the federal deficit by over one trillion dollars. 

I signed a bipartisan budget deal that will cut another trillion dollars over the next decade. 

And now it’s my goal to cut the federal deficit $3 trillion more by making big corporations and the very wealthy finally pay their fair share.  

Look, I’m a capitalist. 

If you want to make a million bucks – great! 

Just pay your fair share in taxes. 

A fair tax code is how we invest in the things –  

that make a country great, health care, education, defense, and more. 

But here’s the deal. 

The last administration enacted a $2 Trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the very wealthy and the biggest corporations and exploded the federal deficit. 

They added more to the national debt than in any presidential term in American history. 

For folks at home does anybody really think the tax code is fair? 

Do you really think the wealthy and big corporations need another $2 trillion in tax breaks? 

I sure don’t. I’m going to keep fighting like hell to make it fair! 

Under my plan nobody earning less than $400,000 will pay an additional penny in federal taxes. 

Nobody. Not one penny. 

In fact the Child Tax Credit I passed during the pandemic cut taxes for millions of working families and cut child poverty in HALF. 

Restore the Child Tax Credit because no child should go hungry in this country! 

The way to make the tax code fair is to make big corporations and the very wealthy finally pay their share. 

In 2020 55 of the biggest companies in America made $40 Billion in profits and paid zero in federal income taxes.  

Not any more! 

Thanks to the law I wrote and signed big companies  now have to pay a minimum of 15%.  

But that’s still less than working people pay in federal taxes. 

It’s time to raise the corporate minimum tax to at least 21% so every big corporation finally begins to pay their fair share. 

I also want to end the tax breaks for Big Pharma, Big Oil, private jets, and massive executive pay! 

End it now! 

There are 1,000 billionaires in America.  

You know what the average federal tax rate for these billionaires is? 8.2 percent! 

That’s far less than the vast majority of Americans pay.  

No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a teacher, a sanitation worker, a nurse! 

That’s why I’ve proposed a minimum tax of 25% for billionaires. Just 25%. 

That would raise $500 Billion over the next 10 years. 

Imagine what that could do for America. Imagine a future with affordable child care so millions of families can get the care they need and still go to work and help grow the economy. 

Imagine a future with paid leave because no one should have to choose between working and taking care of yourself or a sick family member.   

Imagine a future with home care and elder care so seniors and people living with disabilities can stay in their homes and family caregivers get paid what they deserve! 

Tonight, let’s all agree once again to stand up for seniors! 

Many of my Republican friends want to put Social Security on the chopping block.  

If anyone here tries to cut Social Security or Medicare or raise the retirement age I will stop them! 

Working people who built this country pay more into Social Security than millionaires and billionaires do. It’s not fair. 

We have two ways to go on Social Security. 

Republicans will cut Social Security and give more tax cuts to the wealthy. 

I will protect and strengthen Social Security and make the wealthy pay their fair share! 

Too many corporations raise their prices to pad their profits charging you more and more for less and less. 

That’s why we’re cracking down on corporations that engage in price gouging or deceptive pricing from food to health care to housing. 

In fact, snack companies think you won’t notice when they charge you just as much for the same size bag  

but with fewer chips in it. 

Pass Senator Bob Casey’s bill to put a stop to shrinkflation! 

I’m also getting rid of junk fees those hidden fees added at the end of your bills without your knowledge. My administration just announced we’re cutting credit card late fees from $32 to just $8. 

The banks and credit card companies don’t like it. 

Why? 

I’m saving American families $20 billion a year with all of the junk fees I’m eliminating. 

And I’m not stopping there. 

My Administration has proposed rules to make cable travel utilities and online ticket sellers tell you the total price upfront so there are no surprises. 

It matters. 

And so does this. 

In November, my team began serious negotiations with a bipartisan group of Senators. 

The result was a bipartisan bill with the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen  

in this country. 

That bipartisan deal would hire 1,500 more border security agents and officers.  

100 more immigration judges to help tackle a backload of 2 million cases. 

4,300 more asylum officers and new policies so they can resolve cases in 6 months instead of 6 years. 

100 more high-tech drug detection machines to significantly increase the ability to screen and stop vehicles from smuggling fentanyl into America. 

This bill would save lives and bring order to the border. 

It would also give me as President new emergency authority to temporarily shut down the border  when the number of migrants at the border is overwhelming.  

The Border Patrol Union endorsed the bill. 

The Chamber of Commerce endorsed the bill. 

I believe that given the opportunity a majority of the House and Senate would endorse it as well. 

But unfortunately, politics have derailed it so far. 

I’m told my predecessor called Republicans in Congress and demanded they block the bill. He feels it would be a political win for me and a political loser for him. 

It’s not about him or me.  

It’d be a winner for America! 

My Republican friends you owe it to the American people to get this bill done.   

We need to act. 

And if my predecessor is watching instead of playing politics and pressuring members of Congress to block this bill, join me in telling Congress to pass it! 

We can do it together. But here’s what I will not do. 

I will not demonize immigrants saying they “poison the blood of our country” as he said in his own words. 

I will not separate families. 

I will not ban people from America because of their faith. 

Unlike my predecessor, on my first day in office I introduced a comprehensive plan to fix our immigration system, secure the border, and provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and so much more. 

Because unlike my predecessor, I know who we are  

as Americans. 

We are the only nation in the world with a heart and soul that draws from old and new. 

Home to Native Americans whose ancestors have been here for thousands of years. Home to people from every place on Earth. 

Some came freely. 

Some chained by force. 

Some when famine struck, like my ancestral family in Ireland. 

Some to flee persecution. 

Some to chase dreams that are impossible anywhere but here in America. 

That’s America, where we all come from somewhere, but we are all Americans. 

We can fight about the border, or we can fix it. I’m ready to fix it. 

Send me the border bill now! 

A transformational moment in our history happened 59 years ago today in Selma, Alabama. 

Hundreds of foot soldiers for justice marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, named after a Grand Dragon of the KKK, to claim their fundamental right to vote.  

They were beaten bloodied and left for dead. 

Our late friend and former colleague John Lewis was at the march.  

We miss him. 

Joining us tonight are other marchers who were there including Betty May Fikes, known as the “Voice of Selma”. 

A daughter of gospel singers and preachers, she sang songs of prayer and protest on that Bloody Sunday, 

to help shake the nation’s conscience. Five months later, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law.   

 

But 59 years later, there are forces taking us back in time. 

Voter suppression. Election subversion. Unlimited dark money. Extreme gerrymandering.  

John Lewis was a great friend to many of us here. But if you truly want to honor him and all the heroes who marched with him, then it’s time for more than just talk. 

Pass and send me the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act! 

And stop denying another core value of America our diversity across American life. 

Banning books. 

It’s wrong! 

Instead of erasing history, let’s make history!  

I want to protect other fundamental rights! 

Pass the Equality Act, and my message to transgender Americans: I have your back! 

Pass the PRO Act for workers rights! And raise the federal minimum wage because every worker has the right to earn a decent living! 

We are also making history by confronting the climate crisis, not denying it. 

I’m taking the most significant action on climate ever in the history of the world. 

I am cutting our carbon emissions in half by 2030. 

Creating tens of thousands of clean-energy jobs, like the IBEW workers building and installing 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations. 

Conserving 30% of America’s lands and waters  by 2030. 

Taking historic action on environmental justice for fence-line communities smothered by the legacy of pollution.  

And patterned after the Peace Corps and Ameri Corps, I’ve launched a Climate Corps to put 20,000 young people to work at the forefront of our clean energy future. 

I’ll triple that number this decade. 

All Americans deserve the freedom to be safe, and America is safer today than when I took office. 

The year before I took office, murders went up 30% nationwide the biggest increase in history. 

That was then. 

Now, through my American Rescue Plan, which every Republican voted against, I’ve made the largest investment in public safety ever. 

Last year, the murder rate saw the sharpest decrease in history, and violent crime fell to one of the lowest levels in more than 50 years.  

But we have more to do. 

Help cities and towns invest in more community police officers, more mental health workers, and more community violence intervention.  

Give communities the tools to crack down on gun crime, retail crime, and carjacking. 

Keep building public trust, as I’ve been doing by taking executive action on police reform, and calling for it to be the law of the land, directing my Cabinet to review the federal classification of marijuana, and expunging thousands of convictions  for mere possession, because no one should be jailed for using or possessing marijuana! 

To take on crimes of domestic violence, I am ramping up federal enforcement of the Violence Against Women Act, that I proudly wrote, so we can finally end the scourge of violence against women in America!  

And there’s another kind of violence I want to stop. 

With us tonight is Jasmine, whose 9-year-old sister Jackie was murdered with 21 classmates and teachers at her elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. 

Soon after it happened, Jill and I went to Uvalde and spent hours with the families. 

We heard their message, and so should everyone in this chamber do something. 

I did do something by establishing the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention in the White House that Vice President Harris is leading. 

Meanwhile, my predecessor told the NRA he’s proud he did nothing on guns when he was President. 

After another school shooting in Iowa he said we should just “get over it.” 

I say we must stop it.  

I’m proud we beat the NRA when I signed the most significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years! 

Now we must beat the NRA again! 

I’m demanding a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines! 

Pass universal background checks! 

None of this violates the Second Amendment or vilifies responsible gun owners. 

As we manage challenges at home, we’re also managing crises abroad including in the Middle East. 

I know the last five months have been gut-wrenching for so many people, for the Israeli people, the Palestinian people, and so many here in America. 

This crisis began on October 7th with a massacre by the terrorist group Hamas. 

1,200 innocent people women and girls men and boys slaughtered, many enduring sexual violence. 

The deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. 

250 hostages taken. 

Here in the chamber tonight are American families whose loved ones are still being held by Hamas. 

I pledge to all the families that we will not rest until we bring their loved ones home. 

We will also work around the clock to bring home Evan and Paul, Americans being unjustly detained all around the world. 

Israel has a right to go after Hamas. 

Hamas could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages, laying down arms, and surrendering those responsible for October 7th. 

Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population. But Israel also has a fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza. 

This war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined. 

More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed. 

Most of whom are not Hamas. 

Thousands and thousands are innocent women and children. 

Girls and boys also orphaned. 

Nearly 2 million more Palestinians under bombardment or displaced. 

Homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin. 

Families without food, water, medicine. 

It’s heartbreaking. 

We’ve been working non-stop to establish an immediate ceasefire that would last for at least six weeks. 

It would get the hostages home, ease the intolerable humanitarian crisis, and build toward something more enduring. 

The United States has been leading international efforts to get more humanitarian assistance into Gaza. 

Tonight, I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters. 

No U.S. boots will be on the ground. 

This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day. 

But Israel must also do its part. 

Israel must allow more aid into Gaza and ensure that humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the cross fire. 

To the leadership of Israel I say this. 

Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. 

Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority. 

As we look to the future, the only real solution is a two-state solution. 

I say this as a lifelong supporter of Israel and the only American president to visit Israel in wartime. 

There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and democracy. 

There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live with peace and dignity. 

There is no other path that guarantees peace between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.  

Creating stability in the Middle East also means containing the threat posed by Iran.  

That’s why I built a coalition of more than a dozen countries to defend international shipping and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. 

I’ve ordered strikes to degrade Houthi capabilities and defend U.S. Forces in the region. 

As Commander in Chief, I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and military personnel.  

For years, all I’ve heard from my Republican friends and so many others is China’s on the rise and America is falling behind. 

They’ve got it backward. 

America is rising. 

We have the best economy in the world. 

Since I’ve come to office, our GDP is up. 

And our trade deficit with China is down to the lowest point in over a decade. 

We’re standing up against China’s unfair economic practices. 

And standing up for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. 

I’ve revitalized our partnerships and alliances in the Pacific. 

I’ve made sure that the most advanced American technologies can’t be used in China’s weapons. 

Frankly for all his tough talk on China, it never occurred to my predecessor to do that. 

We want competition with China, but not conflict.  

And we’re in a stronger position to win the competition for the 21st Century against China or anyone else for that matter. 

Here at home I’ve signed over 400 bipartisan bills.  

But there’s more to do to pass my Unity Agenda. 

Strengthen penalties on fentanyl trafficking. 

Pass bipartisan privacy legislation to protect our children online. 

Harness the promise of A.I. and protect us from its peril.  

Ban A.I. voice impersonation and more! 

And keep our one truly sacred obligation, to train and equip those we send into harm’s way and care for them and their families when they come home, and when they don’t.  

That’s why I signed the PACT Act, one of the most significant laws ever, helping millions of veterans who were exposed to toxins and who now are battling more than 100 cancers. 

Many of them didn’t come home. 

We owe them and their families. 

And we owe it to ourselves to keep supporting our new health research agency called ARPA-H and remind us that we can do big things like end cancer as we know it! 

Let me close with this. 

I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while. 

And when you get to my age certain things become clearer than ever before. 

I know the American story. 

Again and again I’ve seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation. 

Between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future. 

My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. 

A future based on the core values that have defined America. 

Honesty. Decency. Dignity. Equality. 

To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor.  

Now some other people my age see a different story.  

An American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. 

That’s not me. 

I was born amid World War II when America stood for freedom in the world. 

I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Claymont, Delaware among working people who built this country. 

I watched in horror as two of my heroes, Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy, were assassinated and their legacies inspired me to pursue a career in service. 

A public defender, county councilman, elected United States Senator at 29, then Vice President, to our first Black President, now President, with our first woman Vice President. 

In my career I’ve been told I’m too young and I’m too old. 

Whether young or old, I’ve always known what endures. 

Our North Star. 

The very idea of America, that we are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. 

We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either. 

And I won’t walk away from it now. 

My fellow Americans the issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are it’s how old our ideas are? 

Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are among the oldest of ideas. 

But you can’t lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back. 

To lead America, the land of possibilities, you need a vision for the future of what America can and should be. 

Tonight you’ve heard mine. 

I see a future where we defend democracy not diminish it. 

I see a future where we restore the right to choose and protect other freedoms not take them away. 

I see a future where the middle class finally has a fair shot and the wealthy finally have to pay their fair share in taxes. 

I see a future where we save the planet from the climate crisis and our country from gun violence. 

Above all, I see a future for all Americans! 

I see a country for all Americans! 

And I will always be a president for all Americans! 

Because I believe in America! 

I believe in you the American people. 

You’re the reason I’ve never been more optimistic about our future! 

So let’s build that future together! 

Let’s remember who we are! 

We are the United States of America. 

There is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together! 

May God bless you all. 

May God protect our troops.

March 7

1847  U.S. troops occupy Vera Cruz,  Mexico.

1871  First National Bank of Cheyenne chartered. Attribution:  On This Day.

1890  A Congressman from Illinois announced his opposition to Wyoming statehood due to suffrage provision in the proposed state's constitution.

1899  The Philippine Insurrection starts at San Juan del Monte with an assault by Philippine troops..  The first shot is fired by an Englishman serving in the Nebraska volunteers.  First engagement starts with that shot followed by shots fired by Nebraska and Wyoming volunteers and soon other troops, from state volunteer units were engaged.  The Philippine forces initially took some American positions, but by the end of the day, positions were retaken.

1911 The U.S. deploys 20,000 troops to the Mexican border due to the Mexican Revolution.

1917   The Cheyenne State Leader for March 7, 1917: Mustering Out
 

Mustering out was going quickly.  This Wednesday paper was reporting that Wyoming National Guardsmen would be mustered out by Saturday.

What that would have meant, in this context, is that they were spending all day cleaning equipment and inventorying it.  After that, they'd be released from full time duty and returned to their local units.  What occurred to the men who had never actually been in those units, and that was quite a few men, I don't know.

1918   March 7, 1918. Not knowing when to get up from the table. Leaving after having gotten there late. Villa resumes losing and acts spiteful to foreigners. . . except the Germans.
 

The Russians had surrendered.  Even at that, the Germans kept taking ground. . . and all while they presumably are getting ready for a Spring Offensive in the West designed to win the war prior to millions of fresh American troops coming into action.

Romania, spelled differently in those days, hadn't been at war with the Central Powers for long and it was also getting out.  You have to wonder why they even wanted in the war in the first place. By the time they got in, its horrific nature was pretty plain.

And if reports were correct, Villa's fortunes were not going well, and he was lashing out.

1919  March 7, 1919. Transportation in Archangel 7, 1919, Convalescing in Paris, Coming home to Wyoming.

The Russians had long used reindeer for transportation, including occasional military transportation, in Siberia.  The American Army in Siberia found itself doing the same thing for the same practical reasons.

The Hotel de Louvre, a first rate Parisian hotel, was taken over during the war by the Red Cross and used for a hospital.  It was still receiving that use in the immediate post war months.

And men of the 116th Ammunition Train, including Wyoming National Guardsmen who had been infantrymen when Federalized for the Great War, arrived in Cheyenne.  There were more Wyoming Guardsmen to come.

1944  It is announced that the Wyoming State Hospital at Rock Springs will be training nurses for the Army.

2008  Then Senator Barack Obama spoke at the University of Wyoming.

2016  News broke that former Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill filed suit against Legislator Tim Stubson, who is running for Congress, for defamation.  The suit alleges that statements published on Stubson's Facebook page defamed Hill.

 

Natrona County Courthouse, where the suit was filed.

Hill had been a lightening rod for criticism during her tenure as Superintendent of Public Instruction and was involved in a protracted battle with her critics and the legislature.  She lost much of her authority when the legislature removed it in favor of a new appointed office, which ultimately was reversed by the Wyoming Supreme Court.  By that time she was running for governor against the incumbent Matt Mead, a race which failed.

2018  Students at NCHS staged a mid day walk out in solidarity with the victims of school violence.

March 6

1836.  The Alamo falls to Mexican forces.

1866   William F. Cody married Louisa Frederici in St. Louis. 

1884  Sheridan, Wyoming, incorporated.  Sheridan is named after Philip Sheridan, who was born on this day.

 Sheridan.  Main Street.  1887.

1917   The Casper Record for March 6, 1917: Assists "Our Boys" of National Guard get Employment
 

A similar article had appeared in one of the Cheyenne papers a few days prior.  This points out that, at that time, and frankly because I've focused on the Cheyenne papers this has tended to be ignored, only Cheyenne had real "breaking news". The other papers tended to catch up a couple of days later, including the Casper papers.

Casper, as we'll see, was undergoing a huge boom, but that hadn't caught up with its papers yet.  They were much less advanced than the two Cheyenne papers, even though Casper, amazingly enough for a then much smaller town, had several papers.

Anyhow, there was legitimate concern for the employment fate of National Guardsmen.  No statute protected their status at the time, and earlier in the Punitive Expedition Guardsmen from other states had returned home to unemployment, sometimes desperate unemployment.

Of course, in Wyoming, particularly in oil regions like Casper, but also in agricultural regions, indeed everywhere, there was a really heated economy, so that was much less likely. That may explain why the Guard had such a hard time actually filling up several months prior.  And, as a practical matter, but probably not obvious to these men and the state, most of the Wyoming National Guardsmen would be right back in uniform in very short order.

The Cheyenne Leader for March 6, 1917: Deming's approval of Wyoming's troops
 

Wyomingites were cheered that Deming New Mexico appreciated the qualities of their National Guardsmen.

Meanwhile, a big party had occurred for the returned Colorado and  Wyoming Guardsmen in  Cheyenne.

And the Leader claimed that Americans were solidly behind Wilson's policy of "armed neutrality".
1933     A nationwide bank holiday declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt went into effect.

1973   President Richard Nixon imposed price controls on oil and gas.

2008  Former President Clinton spoke at the University of Wyoming.  Attribution:  On This Day.

March 5

1766 France cedes Louisiana to Spain.

1821  James Monroe inaugurated President. His inaugural address:

Fellow-Citizens:
I shall not attempt to describe the grateful emotions which the new and very distinguished proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, evinced by my reelection to this high trust, has excited in my bosom. The approbation which it announces of my conduct in the preceding term affords me a consolation which I shall profoundly feel through life. The general accord with which it has been expressed adds to the great and never-ceasing obligations which it imposes. To merit the continuance of this good opinion, and to carry it with me into my retirement as the solace of advancing years, will be the object of my most zealous and unceasing efforts.
Having no pretensions to the high and commanding claims of my predecessors, whose names are so much more conspicuously identified with our Revolution, and who contributed so preeminently to promote its success, I consider myself rather as the instrument than the cause of the union which has prevailed in the late election In surmounting, in favor of my humble pretensions, the difficulties which so often produce division in like occurrences, it is obvious that other powerful causes, indicating the great strength and stability of our Union, have essentially contributed to draw you together. That these powerful causes exist, and that they are permanent, is my fixed opinion; that they may produce a like accord in all questions touching, however remotely, the liberty, prosperity and happiness of our country will always be the object of my most fervent prayers to the Supreme Author of All Good.
In a government which is founded by the people, who possess exclusively the sovereignty, it seems proper that the person who may be placed by their suffrages in this high trust should declare on commencing its duties the principles on which he intends to conduct the Administration. If the person thus elected has served the preceding term, an opportunity is afforded him to review its principal occurrences and to give such further explanation respecting them as in his judgment may be useful to his constituents. The events of one year have influence on those of another, and, in like manner, of a preceding on the succeeding Administration. The movements of a great nation are connected in all their parts. If errors have been committed they ought to be corrected; if the policy is sound it ought to be supported. It is by a thorough knowledge of the whole subject that our fellow-citizens are enabled to judge correctly of the past and to give a proper direction to the future.
Just before the commencement of the last term the United States had concluded a war with a very powerful nation on conditions equal and honorable to both parties. The events of that war are too recent and too deeply impressed on the memory of all to require a development from me. Our commerce had been in a great measure driven from the sea, our Atlantic and inland frontiers were invaded in almost every part; the waste of life along our coast and on some parts of our inland frontiers, to the defense of which our gallant and patriotic citizens were called, was immense, in addition to which not less than $120,000,000 were added at its end to the public debt.
As soon as the war had terminated, the nation, admonished by its events, resolved to place itself in a situation which should be better calculated to prevent the recurrence of a like evil, and, in case it should recur, to mitigate its calamities. With this view, after reducing our land force to the basis of a peace establishment, which has been further modified since, provision was made for the construction of fortifications at proper points through the whole extent of our coast and such an augmentation of our naval force as should be well adapted to both purposes. The laws making this provision were passed in 1815 and 1816, and it has been since the constant effort of the Executive to carry them into effect.
The advantage of these fortifications and of an augmented naval force in the extent contemplated, in a point of economy, has been fully illustrated by a report of the Board of Engineers and Naval Commissioners lately communicated to Congress, by which it appears that in an invasion by 20,000 men, with a correspondent naval force, in a campaign of six months only, the whole expense of the construction of the works would be defrayed by the difference in the sum necessary to maintain the force which would be adequate toour defense with the aid of those works and that which would be incurred without them. The reason of this difference is obvious. If fortifications are judiciously placed on our great inlets, as distant from our cities as circumstances will permit, they will form the only points of attack, and the enemy will be detained there by a small regular force a sufficient time to enable our militia to collect and repair to that on which the attack is made. A force adequate to the enemy, collected at that single point, with suitable preparation for such others as might be menaced, is all that would be requisite. But if there were no fortifications, then the enemy might go where he pleased, and, changing his position and sailing from place to place, our force must be called out and spread in vast numbers along the whole coast and on both sides of every bay and river as high up in each as it might be navigable for ships of war. By these fortifications, supported by our Navy, to which they would afford like support, we should present to other powers an armed front from St. Croix to the Sabine, which would protect in the event of war our whole coast and interior from invasion; and even in the wars of other powers, in which we were neutral, they would be found eminently useful, as, by keeping their public ships at a distance from our cities, peace and order in them would be preserved and the Government be protected from insult.
It need scarcely be remarked that these measures have not been resorted to in a spirit of hostility to other powers. Such a disposition does not exist toward any power. Peace and good will have been, and will hereafter be, cultivated with all, and by the most faithful regard to justice. They have been dictated by a love of peace, of economy, and an earnest desire to save the lives of our fellow-citizens from that destruction and our country from that devastation which are inseparable from war when it finds us unprepared for it. It is believed, and experience has shown, that such a preparation is the best expedient that can be resorted to prevent war. I add with much pleasure that considerable progress has already been made in these measures of defense, and that they will be completed in a few years, considering the great extent and importance of the object, if the plan be zealously and steadily persevered in.
The conduct of the Government in what relates to foreign powers is always an object of the highest importance to the nation. Its agriculture, commerce, manufactures, fisheries, revenue, in short, its peace, may all be affected by it. Attention is therefore due to this subject.
At the period adverted to the powers of Europe, after having been engaged in long and destructive wars with each other, had concluded a peace, which happily still exists. Our peace with the power with whom we had been engaged had also been concluded. The war between Spain and the colonies in South America, which had commenced many years before, was then the only conflict that remained unsettled. This being a contest between different parts of the same community, in which other powers had not interfered, was not affected by their accommodations.
This contest was considered at an early stage by my predecessor a civil war in which the parties were entitled to equal rights in our ports. This decision, the first made by any power, being formed on great consideration of the comparative strength and resources of the parties, the length of time, and successful opposition made by the colonies, and of all other circumstances on which it ought to depend, was in strict accord with the law of nations. Congress has invariably acted on this principle, having made no change in our relations with either party. Our attitude has therefore been that of neutrality between them, which has been maintained by the Government with the strictest impartiality. No aid has been afforded to either, nor has any privilege been enjoyed by the one which has not been equally open to the other party, and every exertion has been made in its power to enforce the execution of the laws prohibiting illegal equipments with equal rigor against both.
By this equality between the parties their public vessels have been received in our ports on the same footing; they have enjoyed an equal right to purchase and export arms, munitions of war, and every other supply, the exportation of all articles whatever being permitted under laws which were passed long before the commencement of the contest; our citizens have traded equally with both, and their commerce with each has been alike protected by the Government.
Respecting the attitude which it may be proper for the United States to maintain hereafter between the parties, I have no hesitation in stating it as my opinion that the neutrality heretofore observed should still be adhered to. From the change in the Government of Spain and the negotiation now depending, invited by the Cortes and accepted by the colonies, it may be presumed, that their differences will be settled on the terms proposed by the colonies. Should the war be continued, the United States, regarding its occurrences, will always have it in their power to adopt such measures respecting it as their honor and interest may require.
Shortly after the general peace a band of adventurers took advantage of this conflict and of the facility which it afforded to establish a system of buccaneering in the neighboring seas, to the great annoyance of the commerce of the United States, and, as was represented, of that of other powers. Of this spirit and of its injurious bearing on the United States strong proofs were afforded by the establishment at Amelia Island, and the purposes to which it was made instrumental by this band in 1817, and by the occurrences which took place in other parts of Florida in 1818, the details of which in both instances are too well known to require to be now recited. I am satisfied had a less decisive course been adopted that the worst consequences would have resulted from it. We have seen that these checks, decisive as they were, were not sufficient to crush that piratical spirit. Many culprits brought within our limits have been condemned to suffer death, the punishment due to that atrocious crime. The decisions of upright and enlightened tribunals fall equally on all whose crimes subject them, by a fair interpretation of the law, to its censure. It belongs to the Executive not to suffer the executions under these decisions to transcend the great purpose for which punishment is necessary. The full benefit of example being secured, policy as well as humanity equally forbids that they should be carried further. I have acted on this principle, pardoning those who appear to have been led astray by ignorance of the criminality of the acts they had committed, and suffering the law to take effect on those only in whose favor no extenuating circumstances could be urged.
Great confidence is entertained that the late treaty with Spain, which has been ratified by both the parties, and the ratifications whereof have been exchanged, has placed the relations of the two countries on a basis of permanent friendship. The provision made by it for such of our citizens as have claims on Spain of the character described will, it is presumed, be very satisfactory to them, and the boundary which is established between the territories of the parties westward of the Mississippi, heretofore in dispute, has, it is thought, been settled on conditions just and advantageous to both. But to the acquisition of Florida too much importance can not be attached. It secures to the United States a territory important in itself, and whose importance is much increased by its bearing on many of the highest interests of the Union. It opens to several of the neighboring States a free passage to the ocean, through the Province ceded, by several rivers, having their sources high up within their limits. It secures us against all future annoyance from powerful Indian tribes. It gives us several excellent harbors in the Gulf of Mexico for ships of war of the largest size. It covers by its position in the Gulf the Mississippi and other great waters within our extended limits, and thereby enables the United States to afford complete protection to the vast and very valuable productions of our whole Western country, which find a market through those streams.
By a treaty with the British Government, bearing date on the 20th of October, 1818, the convention regulating the commerce between the United States and Great Britain, concluded on the 3d of July, 1815, which was about expiring, was revived and continued for the term of ten years from the time of its expiration. By that treaty, also, the differences which had arisen under the treaty of Ghent respecting the right claimed by the United States for their citizens to take and cure fish on the coast of His Britannic Majesty's dominions in America, with other differences on important interests, were adjusted to the satisfaction of both parties. No agreement has yet been entered into respecting the commerce between the United States and the British dominions in the West Indies and on this continent. The restraints imposed on that commerce by Great Britain, and reciprocated by the United States on a principle of defense, continue still in force.
The negotiation with France for the regulation of the commercial relations between the two countries, which in the course of the last summer had been commenced at Paris, has since been transferred to this city, and will be pursued on the part of the United States in the spirit of conciliation, and with an earnest desire that it may terminate in an arrangement satisfactory to both parties.
Our relations with the Barbary Powers are preserved in the same state and by the same means that were employed when I came into this office. As early as 1801 it was found necessary to send a squadron into the Mediterranean for the protection of our commerce and no period has intervened, a short term excepted, when it was thought advisable to withdraw it. The great interests which the United States have in the Pacific, in commerce and in the fisheries, have also made it necessary to maintain a naval force there In disposing of this force in both instances the most effectual measures in our power have been taken, without interfering with its other duties, for the suppression of the slave trade and of piracy in the neighboring seas.
The situation of the United States in regard to their resources, the extent of their revenue, and the facility with which it is raised affords a most gratifying spectacle. The payment of nearly $67,000,000 of the public debt, with the great progress made in measures of defense and in other improvements of various kinds since the late war, are conclusive proofs of this extraordinary prosperity, especially when it is recollected that these expenditures have been defrayed without a burthen on the people, the direct tax and excise having been repealed soon after the conclusion of the late war, and the revenue applied to these great objects having been raised in a manner not to be felt. Our great resources therefore remain untouched for any purpose which may affect the vital interests of the nation. For all such purposes they are inexhaustible. They are more especially to be found in the virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of our fellow-citizens, and in the devotion with which they would yield up by any just measure of taxation all their property in support of the rights and honor of their country.
Under the present depression of prices, affecting all the productions of the country and every branch of industry, proceeding from causes explained on a former occasion, the revenue has considerably diminished, the effect of which has been to compel Congress either to abandon these great measures of defense or to resort to loans or internal taxes to supply the deficiency. On the presumption that this depression and the deficiency in the revenue arising from it would be temporary, loans were authorized for the demands of the last and present year. Anxious to relieve my fellow-citizens in 1817 from every burthen which could be dispensed with and the state of the Treasury permitting it, I recommended the repeal of the internal taxes, knowing that such relief was then peculiarly necessary in consequence of the great exertions made in the late war. I made that recommendation under a pledge that should the public exigencies require a recurrence to them at any time while I remained in this trust, I would with equal promptitude perform the duty which would then be alike incumbent on me. By the experiment now making it will be seen by the next session of Congress whether the revenue shall have been so augmented as to be adequate to all these necessary purposes. Should the deficiency still continue, and especially should it be probable that it would be permanent, the course to be pursued appears to me to be obvious. I am satisfied that under certain circumstances loans may be resorted to with great advantage. I am equally well satisfied, as a general rule, that the demands of the current year, especially in time of peace, should be provided for by the revenue of that year.
I have never dreaded, nor have I ever shunned, in any situation in which I have been placed making appeals to the virtue and patriotism of my fellow-citizens, well knowing that they could never be made in vain, especially in times of great emergency or for purposes of high national importance. Independently of the exigency of the case, many considerations of great weight urge a policy having in view a provision of revenue to meet to a certain extent the demands of the nation, without relying altogether on the precarious resource of foreign commerce. I am satisfied that internal duties and excises, with corresponding imposts on foreign articles of the same kind, would, without imposing any serious burdens on the people, enhance the price of produce, promote our manufactures, and augment the revenue, at the same time that they made it more secure and permanent.
The care of the Indian tribes within our limits has long been an essential part of our system, but, unfortunately, it has not been executed in a manner to accomplish all the objects intended by it. We have treated them as independent nations, without their having any substantial pretensions to that rank. The distinction has flattered their pride, retarded their improvement, and in many instances paved the way to their destruction. The progress of our settlements westward, supported as they are by a dense population, has constantly driven them back, with almost the total sacrifice of the lands which they have been compelled to abandon. They have claims on the magnanimity and, I may add, on the justice of this nation which we must all feel. We should become their real benefactors; we should perform the office of their Great Father, the endearing title which they emphatically give to the Chief Magistrate of our Union. Their sovereignty over vast territories should cease, in lieu of which the right of soil should be secured to each individual and his posterity in competent portions; and for the territory thus ceded by each tribe some reasonable equivalent should be granted, to be vested in permanent funds for the support of civil government over them and for the education of their children, for their instruction in the arts of husbandry, and to provide sustenance for them until they could provide it for themselves. My earnest hope is that Congress will digest some plan, founded on these principles, with such improvements as their wisdom may suggest, and carry it into effect as soon as it may be practicable.
Europe is again unsettled and the prospect of war increasing. Should the flame light up in any quarter, how far it may extend it is impossible to foresee. It is our peculiar felicity to be altogether unconnected with the causes which produce this menacing aspect elsewhere. With every power we are in perfect amity, and it is our interest to remain so if it be practicable on just conditions. I see no reasonable cause to apprehend variance with any power, unless it proceed from a violation of our maritime rights. In these contests, should they occur, and to whatever extent they may be carried, we shall be neutral; but as a neutral power we have rights which it is our duty to maintain. For like injuries it will be incumbent on us to seek redress in a spirit of amity, in full confidence that, injuring none, none would knowingly injure us. For more imminent dangers we should be prepared, and it should always be recollected that such preparation adapted to the circumstances and sanctioned by the judgment and wishes of our constituents can not fail to have a good effect in averting dangers of every kind. We should recollect also that the season of peace is best adapted to these preparations.
If we turn our attention, fellow-citizens, more immediately to the internal concerns of our country, and more especially to those on which its future welfare depends, we have every reason to anticipate the happiest results. It is now rather more than forty-four years since we declared our independence, and thirty-seven since it was acknowledged. The talents and virtues which were displayed in that great struggle were a sure presage of all that has since followed. A people who were able to surmount in their infant state such great perils would be more competent as they rose into manhood to repel any which they might meet in their progress. Their physical strength would be more adequate to foreign danger, and the practice of self-government, aided by the light of experience, could not fail to produce an effect equally salutary on all those questions connected with the internal organization. These favorable anticipations have been realized.
In our whole system, national and State, we have shunned all the defects which unceasingly preyed on the vitals and destroyed the ancient Republics. In them there were distinct orders, a nobility and a people, or the people governed in one assembly. Thus, in the one instance there was a perpetual conflict between the orders in society for the ascendency, in which the victory of either terminated in the overthrow of the government and the ruin of the state; in the other, in which the people governed in a body, and whose dominions seldom exceeded the dimensions of a county in one of our States, a tumultuous and disorderly movement permitted only a transitory existence. In this great nation there is but one order, that of the people, whose power, by a peculiarly happy improvement of the representative principle, is transferred from them, without impairing in the slightest degree their sovereignty, to bodies of their own creation, and to persons elected by themselves, in the full extent necessary for all the purposes of free, enlightened and efficient government. The whole system is elective, the complete sovereignty being in the people, and every officer in every department deriving his authority from and being responsible to them for his conduct.
Our career has corresponded with this great outline. Perfection in our organization could not have been expected in the outset either in the National or State Governments or in tracing the line between their respective powers. But no serious conflict has arisen, nor any contest but such as are managed by argument and by a fair appeal to the good sense of the people, and many of the defects which experience had clearly demonstrated in both Governments have been remedied. By steadily pursuing this course in this spirit there is every reason to believe that our system will soon attain the highest degree of perfection of which human institutions are capable, and that the movement in all its branches will exhibit such a degree of order and harmony as to command the admiration and respect of the civilized world.
Our physical attainments have not been less eminent. Twenty-five years ago the river Mississippi was shut up and our Western brethren had no outlet for their commerce. What has been the progress since that time? The river has not only become the property of the United States from its source to the ocean, with all its tributary streams (with the exception of the upper part of the Red River only), but Louisiana, with a fair and liberal boundary on the western side and the Floridas on the eastern, have been ceded to us. The United States now enjoy the complete and uninterrupted sovereignty over the whole territory from St. Croix to the Sabine. New States, settled from among ourselves in this and in other parts, have been admitted into our Union in equal participation in the national sovereignty with the original States. Our population has augmented in an astonishing degree and extended in every direction. We now, fellow-citizens, comprise within our limits the dimensions and faculties of a great power under a Government possessing all the energies of any government ever known to the Old World, with an utter incapacity to oppress the people.
Entering with these views the office which I have just solemnly sworn to execute with fidelity and to the utmost of my ability, I derive great satisfaction from a knowledge that I shall be assisted in the several Departments by the very enlightened and upright citizens from whom I have received so much aid in the preceding term. With full confidence in the continuance of that candor and generous indulgence from my fellow-citizens at large which I have heretofore experienced, and with a firm reliance on the protection of Almighty God, I shall forthwith commence the duties of the high trust to which you have called me.

1836   Samuel Colt manufactured the his first pistol, a 34-caliber "Texas" model.

1836     End of 13 day siege of the Alamo, San Antonio TX.

1842  Texas invaded by Mexican force, which occupied San Antonio and then withdrew.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1849  Zachery Taylor inaugurated President.  His inaugural address:

Elected by the American people to the highest office known to our laws, I appear here to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution, and, in compliance with a time-honored custom, to address those who are now assembled.
The confidence and respect shown by my countrymen in calling me to be the Chief Magistrate of a Republic holding a high rank among the nations of the earth have inspired me with feelings of the most profound gratitude; but when I reflect that the acceptance of the office which their partiality has bestowed imposes the discharge of the most arduous duties and involves the weightiest obligations, I am conscious that the position which I have been called to fill, though sufficient to satisfy the loftiest ambition, is surrounded by fearful responsibilities. Happily, however, in the performance of my new duties I shall not be without able cooperation. The legislative and judicial branches of the Government present prominent examples of distinguished civil attainments and matured experience, and it shall be my endeavor to call to my assistance in the Executive Departments individuals whose talents, integrity, and purity of character will furnish ample guaranties for the faithful and honorable performance of the trusts to be committed to their charge. With such aids and an honest purpose to do whatever is right, I hope to execute diligently, impartially, and for the best interests of the country the manifold duties devolved upon me.
In the discharge of these duties my guide will be the Constitution, which I this day swear to "preserve, protect, and defend." For the interpretation of that instrument I shall look to the decisions of the judicial tribunals established by its authority and to the practice of the Government under the earlier Presidents, who had so large a share in its formation. To the example of those illustrious patriots I shall always defer with reverence, and especially to his example who was by so many titles "the Father of his Country."
To command the Army and Navy of the United States; with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties and to appoint ambassadors and other officers; to give to Congress information of the state of the Union and recommend such measures as he shall judge to be necessary; and to take care that the laws shall be faithfully executed—these are the most important functions intrusted to the President by the Constitution, and it may be expected that I shall briefly indicate the principles which will control me in their execution.
Chosen by the body of the people under the assurance that my Administration would be devoted to the welfare of the whole country, and not to the support of any particular section or merely local interest, I this day renew the declarations I have heretofore made and proclaim my fixed determination to maintain to the extent of my ability the Government in its original purity and to adopt as the basis of my public policy those great republican doctrines which constitute the strength of our national existence.
In reference to the Army and Navy, lately employed with so much distinction on active service, care shall be taken to insure the highest condition of efficiency, and in furtherance of that object the military and naval schools, sustained by the liberality of Congress, shall receive the special attention of the Executive.
As American freemen we can not but sympathize in all efforts to extend the blessings of civil and political liberty, but at the same time we are warned by the admonitions of history and the voice of our own beloved Washington to abstain from entangling alliances with foreign nations. In all disputes between conflicting governments it is our interest not less than our duty to remain strictly neutral, while our geographical position, the genius of our institutions and our people, the advancing spirit of civilization, and, above all, the dictates of religion direct us to the cultivation of peaceful and friendly relations with all other powers. It is to be hoped that no international question can now arise which a government confident in its own strength and resolved to protect its own just rights may not settle by wise negotiation; and it eminently becomes a government like our own, founded on the morality and intelligence of its citizens and upheld by their affections, to exhaust every resort of honorable diplomacy before appealing to arms. In the conduct of our foreign relations I shall conform to these views, as I believe them essential to the best interests and the true honor of the country.
The appointing power vested in the President imposes delicate and onerous duties. So far as it is possible to be informed, I shall make honesty, capacity, and fidelity indispensable prerequisites to the bestowal of office, and the absence of either of these qualities shall be deemed sufficient cause for removal.
It shall be my study to recommend such constitutional measures to Congress as may be necessary and proper to secure encouragement and protection to the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, to improve our rivers and harbors, to provide for the speedy extinguishment of the public debt, to enforce a strict accountability on the part of all officers of the Government and the utmost economy in all public expenditures; but it is for the wisdom of Congress itself, in which all legislative powers are vested by the Constitution, to regulate these and other matters of domestic policy. I shall look with confidence to the enlightened patriotism of that body to adopt such measures of conciliation as may harmonize conflicting interests and tend to perpetuate that Union which should be the paramount object of our hopes and affections. In any action calculated to promote an object so near the heart of everyone who truly loves his country I will zealously unite with the coordinate branches of the Government.
In conclusion I congratulate you, my fellow-citizens, upon the high state of prosperity to which the goodness of Divine Providence has conducted our common country. Let us invoke a continuance of the same protecting care which has led us from small beginnings to the eminence we this day occupy, and let us seek to deserve that continuance by prudence and moderation in our councils, by well-directed attempts to assuage the bitterness which too often marks unavoidable differences of opinion, by the promulgation and practice of just and liberal principles, and by an enlarged patriotism, which shall acknowledge no limits but those of our own widespread Republic.

1876   Bill Hickok married Agnes Thatcher in Cheyenne.

1876  A nighttime raid is attempted on Crook's command, on the Powder River Expedition, but it is detected prior to the attack.

1877  Rutherford B. Hayes inaugurated President.  His inaugural address:

Fellow-Citizens:
We have assembled to repeat the public ceremonial, begun by Washington, observed by all my predecessors, and now a time-honored custom, which marks the commencement of a new term of the Presidential office. Called to the duties of this great trust, I proceed, in compliance with usage, to announce some of the leading principles, on the subjects that now chiefly engage the public attention, by which it is my desire to be guided in the discharge of those duties. I shall not undertake to lay down irrevocably principles or measures of administration, but rather to speak of the motives which should animate us, and to suggest certain important ends to be attained in accordance with our institutions and essential to the welfare of our country.
At the outset of the discussions which preceded the recent Presidential election it seemed to me fitting that I should fully make known my sentiments in regard to several of the important questions which then appeared to demand the consideration of the country. Following the example, and in part adopting the language, of one of my predecessors, I wish now, when every motive for misrepresentation has passed away, to repeat what was said before the election, trusting that my countrymen will candidly weigh and understand it, and that they will feel assured that the sentiments declared in accepting the nomination for the Presidency will be the standard of my conduct in the path before me, charged, as I now am, with the grave and difficult task of carrying them out in the practical administration of the Government so far as depends, under the Constitution and laws on the Chief Executive of the nation.
The permanent pacification of the country upon such principles and by such measures as will secure the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all their constitutional rights is now the one subject in our public affairs which all thoughtful and patriotic citizens regard as of supreme importance.
Many of the calamitous efforts of the tremendous revolution which has passed over the Southern States still remain. The immeasurable benefits which will surely follow, sooner or later, the hearty and generous acceptance of the legitimate results of that revolution have not yet been realized. Difficult and embarrassing questions meet us at the threshold of this subject. The people of those States are still impoverished, and the inestimable blessing of wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government is not fully enjoyed. Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the cause of this condition of things, the fact is clear that in the progress of events the time has come when such government is the imperative necessity required by all the varied interests, public and private, of those States. But it must not be forgotten that only a local government which recognizes and maintains inviolate the rights of all is a true self-government.
With respect to the two distinct races whose peculiar relations to each other have brought upon us the deplorable complications and perplexities which exist in those States, it must be a government which guards the interests of both races carefully and equally. It must be a government which submits loyally and heartily to the Constitution and the laws—the laws of the nation and the laws of the States themselves—accepting and obeying faithfully the whole Constitution as it is.
Resting upon this sure and substantial foundation, the superstructure of beneficent local governments can be built up, and not otherwise. In furtherance of such obedience to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, and in behalf of all that its attainment implies, all so-called party interests lose their apparent importance, and party lines may well be permitted to fade into insignificance. The question we have to consider for the immediate welfare of those States of the Union is the question of government or no government; of social order and all the peaceful industries and the happiness that belongs to it, or a return to barbarism. It is a question in which every citizen of the nation is deeply interested, and with respect to which we ought not to be, in a partisan sense, either Republicans or Democrats, but fellow-citizens and fellowmen, to whom the interests of a common country and a common humanity are dear.
The sweeping revolution of the entire labor system of a large portion of our country and the advance of 4,000,000 people from a condition of servitude to that of citizenship, upon an equal footing with their former masters, could not occur without presenting problems of the gravest moment, to be dealt with by the emancipated race, by their former masters, and by the General Government, the author of the act of emancipation. That it was a wise, just, and providential act, fraught with good for all concerned, is not generally conceded throughout the country. That a moral obligation rests upon the National Government to employ its constitutional power and influence to establish the rights of the people it has emancipated, and to protect them in the enjoyment of those rights when they are infringed or assailed, is also generally admitted.
The evils which afflict the Southern States can only be removed or remedied by the united and harmonious efforts of both races, actuated by motives of mutual sympathy and regard; and while in duty bound and fully determined to protect the rights of all by every constitutional means at the disposal of my Administration, I am sincerely anxious to use every legitimate influence in favor of honest and efficient local self-government as the true resource of those States for the promotion of the contentment and prosperity of their citizens. In the effort I shall make to accomplish this purpose I ask the cordial cooperation of all who cherish an interest in the welfare of the country, trusting that party ties and the prejudice of race will be freely surrendered in behalf of the great purpose to be accomplished. In the important work of restoring the South it is not the political situation alone that merits attention. The material development of that section of the country has been arrested by the social and political revolution through which it has passed, and now needs and deserves the considerate care of the National Government within the just limits prescribed by the Constitution and wise public economy.
But at the basis of all prosperity, for that as well as for every other part of the country, lies the improvement of the intellectual and moral condition of the people. Universal suffrage should rest upon universal education. To this end, liberal and permanent provision should be made for the support of free schools by the State governments, and, if need be, supplemented by legitimate aid from national authority.
Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States that it is my earnest desire to regard and promote their truest interest—the interests of the white and of the colored people both and equally—and to put forth my best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which will forever wipe out in our political affairs the color line and the distinction between North and South, to the end that we may have not merely a united North or a united South, but a united country.
I ask the attention of the public to the paramount necessity of reform in our civil service—a reform not merely as to certain abuses and practices of so-called official patronage which have come to have the sanction of usage in the several Departments of our Government, but a change in the system of appointment itself; a reform that shall be thorough, radical, and complete; a return to the principles and practices of the founders of the Government. They neither expected nor desired from public officers any partisan service. They meant that public officers should owe their whole service to the Government and to the people. They meant that the officer should be secure in his tenure as long as his personal character remained untarnished and the performance of his duties satisfactory. They held that appointments to office were not to be made nor expected merely as rewards for partisan services, nor merely on the nomination of members of Congress, as being entitled in any respect to the control of such appointments.
The fact that both the great political parties of the country, in declaring their principles prior to the election, gave a prominent place to the subject of reform of our civil service, recognizing and strongly urging its necessity, in terms almost identical in their specific import with those I have here employed, must be accepted as a conclusive argument in behalf of these measures. It must be regarded as the expression of the united voice and will of the whole country upon this subject, and both political parties are virtually pledged to give it their unreserved support.
The President of the United States of necessity owes his election to office to the suffrage and zealous labors of a political party, the members of which cherish with ardor and regard as of essential importance the principles of their party organization; but he should strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves the country best.
In furtherance of the reform we seek, and in other important respects a change of great importance, I recommend an amendment to the Constitution prescribing a term of six years for the Presidential office and forbidding a reelection.
With respect to the financial condition of the country, I shall not attempt an extended history of the embarrassment and prostration which we have suffered during the past three years. The depression in all our varied commercial and manufacturing interests throughout the country, which began in September, 1873, still continues. It is very gratifying, however, to be able to say that there are indications all around us of a coming change to prosperous times.
Upon the currency question, intimately connected, as it is, with this topic, I may be permitted to repeat here the statement made in my letter of acceptance, that in my judgment the feeling of uncertainty inseparable from an irredeemable paper currency, with its fluctuation of values, is one of the greatest obstacles to a return to prosperous times. The only safe paper currency is one which rests upon a coin basis and is at all times and promptly convertible into coin.
I adhere to the views heretofore expressed by me in favor of Congressional legislation in behalf of an early resumption of specie payments, and I am satisfied not only that this is wise, but that the interests, as well as the public sentiment, of the country imperatively demand it.
Passing from these remarks upon the condition of our own country to consider our relations with other lands, we are reminded by the international complications abroad, threatening the peace of Europe, that our traditional rule of noninterference in the affairs of foreign nations has proved of great value in past times and ought to be strictly observed.
The policy inaugurated by my honored predecessor, President Grant, of submitting to arbitration grave questions in dispute between ourselves and foreign powers points to a new, and incomparably the best, instrumentality for the preservation of peace, and will, as I believe, become a beneficent example of the course to be pursued in similar emergencies by other nations.
If, unhappily, questions of difference should at any time during the period of my Administration arise between the United States and any foreign government, it will certainly be my disposition and my hope to aid in their settlement in the same peaceful and honorable way, thus securing to our country the great blessings of peace and mutual good offices with all the nations of the world.
Fellow-citizens, we have reached the close of a political contest marked by the excitement which usually attends the contests between great political parties whose members espouse and advocate with earnest faith their respective creeds. The circumstances were, perhaps, in no respect extraordinary save in the closeness and the consequent uncertainty of the result.
For the first time in the history of the country it has been deemed best, in view of the peculiar circumstances of the case, that the objections and questions in dispute with reference to the counting of the electoral votes should be referred to the decision of a tribunal appointed for this purpose.
That tribunal—established by law for this sole purpose; its members, all of them, men of long-established reputation for integrity and intelligence, and, with the exception of those who are also members of the supreme judiciary, chosen equally from both political parties; its deliberations enlightened by the research and the arguments of able counsel—was entitled to the fullest confidence of the American people. Its decisions have been patiently waited for, and accepted as legally conclusive by the general judgment of the public. For the present, opinion will widely vary as to the wisdom of the several conclusions announced by that tribunal. This is to be anticipated in every instance where matters of dispute are made the subject of arbitration under the forms of law. Human judgment is never unerring, and is rarely regarded as otherwise than wrong by the unsuccessful party in the contest.
The fact that two great political parties have in this way settled a dispute in regard to which good men differ as to the facts and the law no less than as to the proper course to be pursued in solving the question in controversy is an occasion for general rejoicing.
Upon one point there is entire unanimity in public sentiment—that conflicting claims to the Presidency must be amicably and peaceably adjusted, and that when so adjusted the general acquiescence of the nation ought surely to follow.
It has been reserved for a government of the people, where the right of suffrage is universal, to give to the world the first example in history of a great nation, in the midst of the struggle of opposing parties for power, hushing its party tumults to yield the issue of the contest to adjustment according to the forms of law.
Looking for the guidance of that Divine Hand by which the destinies of nations and individuals are shaped, I call upon you, Senators, Representatives, judges, fellow-citizens, here and everywhere, to unite with me in an earnest effort to secure to our country the blessings, not only of material prosperity, but of justice, peace, and union—a union depending not upon the constraint of force, but upon the loving devotion of a free people; "and that all things may be so ordered and settled upon the best and surest foundations that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations."

1884  Territorial Governor Hale approved act creating Fremont County. Attribution:  On This Day.

1889  First school in Casper opened, a subscription school opened by Mrs Adah E. Allen.  Schools of this type were  very common in this period, and reflected the local communities desire to have primary education, but also reflected a lack of state funding or uniformity.  Concerns about the lack of uniformity and a very strong desire for public education in the West caused the creation of the elective office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to be created.  Wyomingites have recently seen a great deal of controversy regarding this particular office, which the Legislature has recently deprived of most of its powers, which are now vested in an appointed officer.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1917 The Second Inauguration of Woodrow Wilson
 

This was actually the Public Inauguration for Wilson. He'd actually take the oath of office the day prior, in keeping with the Constitutional requirements, in a highly private ceremony that was kept quiet.  No public events were held on that day, as it was a Sunday.

His address:

My Fellow Citizens:
The four years which have elapsed since last I stood in this place have been crowded with counsel and action of the most vital interest and consequence. Perhaps no equal period in our history has been so fruitful of important reforms in our economic and industrial life or so full of significant changes in the spirit and purpose of our political action. We have sought very thoughtfully to set our house in order, correct the grosser errors and abuses of our industrial life, liberate and quicken the processes of our national genius and energy, and lift our politics to a broader view of the people's essential interests.
It is a record of singular variety and singular distinction. But I shall not attempt to review it. It speaks for itself and will be of increasing influence as the years go by. This is not the time for retrospect. It is time rather to speak our thoughts and purposes concerning the present and the immediate future.
Although we have centered counsel and action with such unusual concentration and success upon the great problems of domestic legislation to which we addressed ourselves four years ago, other matters have more and more forced themselves upon our attention— matters lying outside our own life as a nation and over which we had no control, but which, despite our wish to keep free of them, have drawn us more and more irresistibly into their own current and influence.
It has been impossible to avoid them. They have affected the life of the whole world. They have shaken men everywhere with a passion and an apprehension they never knew before. It has been hard to preserve calm counsel while the thought of our own people swayed this way and that under their influence. We are a composite and cosmopolitan people. We are of the blood of all the nations that are at war. The currents of our thoughts as well as the currents of our trade run quick at all seasons back and forth between us and them. The war inevitably set its mark from the first alike upon our minds, our industries, our commerce, our politics and our social action. To be indifferent to it, or independent of it, was out of the question.
And yet all the while we have been conscious that we were not part of it. In that consciousness, despite many divisions, we have drawn closer together. We have been deeply wronged upon the seas, but we have not wished to wrong or injure in return; have retained throughout the consciousness of standing in some sort apart, intent upon an interest that transcended the immediate issues of the war itself.
As some of the injuries done us have become intolerable we have still been clear that we wished nothing for ourselves that we were not ready to demand for all mankind—fair dealing, justice, the freedom to live and to be at ease against organized wrong.
It is in this spirit and with this thought that we have grown more and more aware, more and more certain that the part we wished to play was the part of those who mean to vindicate and fortify peace. We have been obliged to arm ourselves to make good our claim to a certain minimum of right and of freedom of action. We stand firm in armed neutrality since it seems that in no other way we can demonstrate what it is we insist upon and cannot forget. We may even be drawn on, by circumstances, not by our own purpose or desire, to a more active assertion of our rights as we see them and a more immediate association with the great struggle itself. But nothing will alter our thought or our purpose. They are too clear to be obscured. They are too deeply rooted in the principles of our national life to be altered. We desire neither conquest nor advantage. We wish nothing that can be had only at the cost of another people. We always professed unselfish purpose and we covet the opportunity to prove our professions are sincere.
There are many things still to be done at home, to clarify our own politics and add new vitality to the industrial processes of our own life, and we shall do them as time and opportunity serve, but we realize that the greatest things that remain to be done must be done with the whole world for stage and in cooperation with the wide and universal forces of mankind, and we are making our spirits ready for those things.
We are provincials no longer. The tragic events of the thirty months of vital turmoil through which we have just passed have made us citizens of the world. There can be no turning back. Our own fortunes as a nation are involved whether we would have it so or not.
And yet we are not the less Americans on that account. We shall be the more American if we but remain true to the principles in which we have been bred. They are not the principles of a province or of a single continent. We have known and boasted all along that they were the principles of a liberated mankind. These, therefore, are the things we shall stand for, whether in war or in peace:
That all nations are equally interested in the peace of the world and in the political stability of free peoples, and equally responsible for their maintenance; that the essential principle of peace is the actual equality of nations in all matters of right or privilege; that peace cannot securely or justly rest upon an armed balance of power; that governments derive all their just powers from the consent of the governed and that no other powers should be supported by the common thought, purpose or power of the family of nations; that the seas should be equally free and safe for the use of all peoples, under rules set up by common agreement and consent, and that, so far as practicable, they should be accessible to all upon equal terms; that national armaments shall be limited to the necessities of national order and domestic safety; that the community of interest and of power upon which peace must henceforth depend imposes upon each nation the duty of seeing to it that all influences proceeding from its own citizens meant to encourage or assist revolution in other states should be sternly and effectually suppressed and prevented.
I need not argue these principles to you, my fellow countrymen; they are your own part and parcel of your own thinking and your own motives in affairs. They spring up native amongst us. Upon this as a platform of purpose and of action we can stand together. And it is imperative that we should stand together. We are being forged into a new unity amidst the fires that now blaze throughout the world. In their ardent heat we shall, in God's Providence, let us hope, be purged of faction and division, purified of the errant humors of party and of private interest, and shall stand forth in the days to come with a new dignity of national pride and spirit. Let each man see to it that the dedication is in his own heart, the high purpose of the nation in his own mind, ruler of his own will and desire.
I stand here and have taken the high and solemn oath to which you have been audience because the people of the United States have chosen me for this august delegation of power and have by their gracious judgment named me their leader in affairs.
I know now what the task means. I realize to the full the responsibility which it involves. I pray God I may be given the wisdom and the prudence to do my duty in the true spirit of this great people. I am their servant and can succeed only as they sustain and guide me by their confidence and their counsel. The thing I shall count upon, the thing without which neither counsel nor action will avail, is the unity of America—an America united in feeling, in purpose and in its vision of duty, of opportunity and of service.
We are to beware of all men who would turn the tasks and the necessities of the nation to their own private profit or use them for the building up of private power.
United alike in the conception of our duty and in the high resolve to perform it in the face of all men, let us dedicate ourselves to the great task to which we must now set our hand. For myself I beg your tolerance, your countenance and your united aid.
The shadows that now lie dark upon our path will soon be dispelled, and we shall walk with the light all about us if we be but true to ourselves—to ourselves as we have wished to be known in the counsels of the world and in the thought of all those who love liberty and justice and the right exalted.

1933   President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "bank holiday", closing all U.S. banks and freezing all financial transactions.

1992  The Worland Ranch added to the National Registry of Historic Places.  Attribution:  On This Day.