WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1821-1832
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.are incident to the station in which I am placed; but I am cheered by the consolatory hope, that I shall not look in vain to my countrymen, for that support, which justice and patriotism never fail to afford. In the legislature of Tennessee, I shall expect to find those measures which may be the subjects of Executive recommenda- tion, and which have for their object the good of our country, examined with fairness and impartiality. I cannot be insensible to the high obligations I am under to my fellow citizens, who have confided to me the government of a State, so exalted, in the scale of national character, and so justly proud of her achieve- ments in the last sanguinary struggle with Great Britain. To me it is a source of grateful pleasure, and of manly pride, that Tennessee is my adopted country. At an early age I came within her limits, unattended by those adventitious aids, so necessary in pointing out the path of usefulness, and sustaining youth, under the pressure of inexperience and misfortune; and however way- ward and devious my course may have been in youth, her citizens have magnanimously upheld me. In return for that support, I trust my services have not been altogether unprofitable to my country. It has been my constant aim in every public station in which it has been my fortune to be placed, to exert all my abilities in sustaining the rights of the people. . One of my obligations is to support the constitution of the United States. I am sensible of the sacred and important char- acter of that instrument, and that it ought not to be violated- its provisions should be regarded, and extended in their opera- tions to the purposes of its adoption. But at the same time, that we hold that production of our ancestors sacred, we should ob- serve with vigilance, and guard with firmness, our own consti- tution, (which is the guarantee of our sovereignty) whenever an infraction of it is attempted by the General Government. Thus while we support the federal constitution according to its essen- tial principles, with a view to the preservation of the confederacy on the one hand,-we are bound on the other, to watch over, and preserve the rights of the State. In administering the government of the state, I shall have no motive to lead me from pursuing the best interest of the com- munity. With interests and feelings identified with yours, and in addition to these, that love of country which [will] only term- inate with my existence, I feel assured that I will have the con- fidence of my fellow citizens in the integrity of my official con- duct. In the course of the administration, it will be my constant
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