William Bebb 1849 State of the State Address

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GOYERNOE'S MESSAGE.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the
House of Representatives: An eventful year in the history of nations has just drawn to its close. It has summoned you as it past to the discharge, once more, of your annual constitutional duties and obliga¬ tions, under auspices inspiring every true American heart with renewed patriotism, and profound adoration and gratitude to Almighty God, our National Dehverer, and Beneficent Benefac¬ tor. Amidst the fearful and sublime uprisings of the people of Europe, and the consequent downfall of dynasties, thrones and dominions, the Model Republic, so long and so much scoffed at by the advocates of monarchy, stands serene and unshaken. Peace smiles again, on all her extended borders, and law, abundance, freedom and contentment reign wiihin. Questions of foreign and domestic policy, of constitutional power and obhgation, of peace and war, of freedom and slavery, may, at times, awaken, as they should, the dormant energies of her people, and the renovating powers of her constitution. A gieat party and its measures, may encounter the silent but po¬ tent condemnation of the ballot box. The president of to-day, wielding, in wantonness, the power of twenty millions of peo¬ ple, may be weighed to-morrow in the balance and found want¬ ing. Yet who does not perceive that the great American Re¬ public, purified and strengthened by these awakenings, remains fast anchored in the virtue, intelligence, habits, affections, and deliberately formed judgment of her people of all parties?
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