" This is the obligation I have reverently taken before the Lord
Most High. To keep it will be my single purpose, my constant prayer; and
I shall confidently rely upon the forbearance and assistance of all the
people in the discharge of my solemn responsibilities.
***
William McKinley
Second Inaugural Address
Monday, March 4, 1901
My Fellow-Citizens:
WHEN we assembled here on the 4th of March, 1897, there was great
anxiety with regard to our currency and credit. None exists now. Then
our Treasury receipts were inadequate to meet the current obligations of
the Government. Now they are sufficient for all public needs, and we
have a surplus instead of a deficit. Then I felt constrained to convene
the Congress in extraordinary session to devise revenues to pay the
ordinary expenses of the Government. Now I have the satisfaction to
announce that the Congress just closed has reduced taxation in the sum
of $41,000,000. Then there was deep solicitude because of the long
depression in our manufacturing, mining, agricultural, and mercantile
industries and the consequent distress of our laboring population. Now
every avenue of production is crowded with activity, labor is well
employed, and American products find good markets at home and abroad.
Our diversified productions, however, are increasing in such
unprecedented volume as to admonish us of the necessity of still further
enlarging our foreign markets by broader commercial relations.
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