Never before have I held
public office of any kind. With the ample opportunities of private life
I was content. No tombstone for me could bear a fairer inscription than
this: "Here lies one who, without the honors or emoluments of public
station, did something for his fellowmen." From such simple aspirations
I was taken away by the free choice of my native Commonwealth, and
placed at this responsible post of duty, without personal obligation of
any kind, beyond what was implied in my life and published words. The
earnest friends by whose confidence I was first designated asked nothing
from me, and throughout the long conflict which ended in my election
rejoiced in the position which I most carefully guarded. To all my
language was uniform: that I did not desire to be brought forward;
that I would do nothing to promote the result; that I had no pledges or
promises to offer; that the office should seek me, and not I the office;
and that it should find me in all respects an independent man, bound to
no party and to no human being, but only, according to my best judgment,
to act for the good of all.
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