WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1836
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and San Augustine, and was engaged in farming, cattle raising, and trad- ing with the Indians. In 1839, Lamar appointed him agent to the Chero- kees, Shawnees, and other Indian tribes "to cultivate and preserve the friendly relations existing between the frontier inhabitants of Texas and the Indian tribes which have emigrated from the United States to Texas,- but whose claim to territory or even occupancy, has not yet been recog- nized, and is now a subject of grave deliberation on the part of the Texian Government." See Harriett Smither (ed.), Journals of the Fourth Con- oress of the Rc1mblic of Texas, III, 72, 77, 102-.103. . HOUSTON'S OATH OF OFFICEl I Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas, do solemn- ly and sincerely swear, that I will faithfully execute the duties of my office, and to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and de- fend the Constitution of the Republic. SAM HOUSTON Town of Columbia Representative Hall Oct. 22d. 1836. [ Endorsed] : Presidents Oath of Office Administered in the Presence of both Houses of Congress On 22d Oct. 1836 by the Speaker of the House. 1 Stcite Depa,·tm.ent Lette1·s, Congressional Election, 1835-1839, Texas State Library; C. E. Lester, Authentic Memoirs (1867), 175-176-179.
HOUSTON'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS 1
Columbia, October 22, 1836. MR. SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN: Deeply impressed with a sense of responsibility devolving on me, I can not, in justice to myself, repress the emotion of my heart, or restrain the feelings which my sense of obligation to my fellow-citizens has inspired. Their suffrage was gratuitously bestowed. Preferred to others, possibly superior in merit to myself, called to the most important station among mankind by the voice of a free people, it is utterly impossible not to feel impressed with the deepest sensations of delicacy in my present position before the world. It is not here alone, but our present attitude before all nations has rendered my position, and that of my country, one of peculiar interest. A spot of earth almost m~known to the geography of the age, destitute of all avai1able resources, comparatively few in num- bers, we modestly remonstrated against oppression, and, when invaded by a numerous host, we dared to proclaim our indepen- dence and to strike for freedom on the breast of the oppressor.
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