The addresses are separated by three asterisks: ***
Dates of addresses by Grover Cleveland in this eBook:
December 8, 1885
December 6, 1886
December 6, 1887
December 3, 1888
December 4, 1893
December 3, 1894
December 2, 1895
December 7, 1896
***
State of the Union Address
Grover Cleveland
December 8, 1885
To the Congress of the United States:
Your assembling is clouded by a sense of public bereavement, caused by therecent and sudden death of Thomas A. Hendricks, Vice-President of theUnited States. His distinguished public services, his complete integrityand devotion to every duty, and his personal virtues will find honorablerecord in his country's history.
Ample and repeated proofs of the esteem and confidence in which he was heldby his fellow-countrymen were manifested by his election to offices of themost important trust and highest dignity; and at length, full of years andhonors, he has been laid at rest amid universal sorrow and benediction.
The Constitution, which requires those chosen to legislate for the peopleto annually meet in the discharge of their solemn trust, also requires thePresident to give to Congress information of the state of the Union andrecommend to their consideration such measures as he shall deem necessaryand expedient. At the threshold of a compliance with these constitutionaldirections it is well for us to bear in mind that our usefulness to thepeople's interests will be promoted by a constant appreciation of the scopeand character of our respective duties as they relate to Federallegislation. While the Executive may recommend such measures as he shalldeem expedient, the responsibility for legislative action must and shouldrest upon those selected by the people to make their laws.
Contemplation of the grave and responsible functions assigned to therespective branches of the Government under the Constitution will disclosethe partitions of power between our respective departments and theirnecessary independence, and also the need for the exercise of all the powerintrusted to each in that spirit of comity and cooperation which isessential to the proper fulfillment of the patriotic obligations which restupon us as faithful servants of the people.
The jealous watchfulness of our constituencies, great and small,supplements their suffrages, and before the tribunal they establish everypublic servant should be judged.
It is gratifying to announce that the relations of the United States withall foreign powers continue to be friendly. Our position after nearly acentury of successful constitutional government, maintenance of good faithin all our engagements, the avoidance of complications with other nations,and our consistent and amicable attitude toward the strong and weak alikefurnish proof of a political disposition which renders professions of goodwill unnecessary. There are no questions of difficulty pending with anyforeign government.
The Argentine Government has revived the long dormant question of theFalkland Islands by claiming from the United States indemnity for theirloss, attributed to the action of the commander of the sloop of warLexington in breaking up a pir