American Presidents and Their Inaugural Speeches

Usually when the President of the United States delivers his inaugural address, he delivers a message of hope. Also he addresses the national issues at hand. He asks for mutual cooperation with the government at all levels. He emphasizes that the Constitution guarantees the rights of all citizens. During the Gilded Age, the inaugural addresses from President Hayes to President McKinley had the same message and addressed the same issues of the era.

In his inaugural address, President Rutherford B. Hayes had concerns about the pacification of the country. He advocated securing the protection of all citizens and all their constitutional rights. He addressed the situation of the Southern States. Many people were still impoverished. He wanted honest and peaceful local governments. His main focus was on the local Southern governments. He remarked that a true self government recognizes and maintains the rights of all citizens. He addressed race relations in those States. He advised that the government must protect the interest of both races by accepting and obeying the Constitution. He advocated for free schools by State governments. He took on the challenge of getting the country out of the depression that was taking place.

His election to the presidency was one of the most controversial in American history. On January 1877, Congress established an ad hoc electoral commission. This commission ended the controversy in his favor. He became the first president to take the oath in the White House, to have a typewriter and a telephone. He removed federal troops from Louisiana and South Carolina. This ended the Reconstruction era and the South gained self rule. This was a setback to the progress of equal rights. However President Hayes focus...

... middle of paper ...

...nts/grovercleveland22

Benjamin Harrison, “Inaugural Address: Monday, March 4, 1889,”Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States, http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres38.html

Whitehouse.gov., “Benjamin Harrison,” Presidents, http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/benjaminharrison

Grover Cleveland, “Second Inaugural Address: Saturday, March 4, 1893,” Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States, http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres39.html

Whitehouse.gov., “Grover Cleveland,” Presidents, http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/grovercleveland24

Ibid.

William McKinley, “First Inaugural Address: Thursday, March 4, 1897,” Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States, http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres40.html

Whitehouse.gov., “William McKinley,” Presidents, http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williammckinley