“Our grateful thanks are due to an all-merciful Providence.
It is not strange, however much it may be regretted, that such an exuberance of enterprise should cause some individuals to mistake change for progress and the invasion of the rights of others for national prowess and glory.
Our Constitution, though not perfect, is doubtless the best that ever was formed.
We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the happy Constitution and Government which were bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit in all their integrity to our children.“
– President Millard Fillmore, 1856
