17

17

and enterprize [sic] of its citizens afford abundant cause for
grateful reflection and mutual congratulation. At no
former period has the general welfare of our citizens
been more obvious and satisfactory. With a rich profession
of the necessaires and comforts of life, the hand of labor is now
rewarded uniformly rewarded with an adequate return.
Poverty and distress are unknown except as the result of
indolence or crime, or some peculiar casualty from
the effects of which, relief is almost instantly attainable.
It is a source likewise of the utmost satisfaction, that in
extending our views beyond the limits of our own State,
we find ourselves citizens of a great federal Republic
whose progressive improvement has been rapid and
extnesive beyond the example of any other nation, and
whose condition at present, under the auspices of a
chief majistrate [sic], selected from among our own fellow
citizens, affords all the blessings of freedom and protection
at home, and furnishes an object of admiration and
respect to the rest of the world. Blessed with peace and
with the prospect of presrving it, and yet fully prepared
for all the dangers and privations of war, with
a commerce that renders triutary to us the
resourses [sic] of all other nations - with a rich
and overflowing treasury, and a national
debt nearly extinguished, we have abundant
cause of gratitude for the unprecedented success
which has attended the experiment of our peculiar
form of government, combining as it does