Fiftieth Anniversary
by Andrew Jackson
We have now lived almost fifty years under
the Constitution framed by the sages and patriots of the Revolution. The conflicts in
which the nations of Europe were engaged
during a great part of this period, the spirit in
which they waged war against each other, and
our intimate commercial connections with
every part of the civilized world rendered it a
time of much difficulty for the Government
of the United States.
We have had our seasons of peace and of
war, with all the evils which precede or follow
a state of hostility with powerful nations.
We encountered these trials with our Constitution yet in its infancy, and under the disadvantages which a new and untried government must always feel when it is called upon
to put forth its whole strength without the
lights of experience to guide it or the weight
of precedents to justify its measures. But we
have passed triumphantly through all these
difficulties.
Our Constitution is no longer a doubtful
experiment, and at the end of nearly half a
century we find that it has preserved unimpaired the liberties of the people, secured the
rights of property, and that our country has
improved and is flourishing beyond any
former example in the history of nations.
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