James Monroe's State of the Union Address

Newspaper. American Mercury, Hartford, Ct., December 9, 1817, 4 pp., 13 x 19 1/2 in. With the State of the Union Address in full on page 2. Monroe enters office in a time of peace and prosperity well deserving of its moniker, the Era of Good Feelings. Still, the president outlines a plan for the future in his first message to Congress. Excerpt"Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives: At no period of our political existence had we so much cause to felicitate ourselves at the prosperous and happy condition of our country. The abundant fruits of the earth have filled it with plenty. An extensive and profitable commerce has greatly augmented our revenue. The public credit has attained an extraordinary elevation. Our preparations for defense in case of future wars, from which, by the experience of all nations, we ought not to expect to be exempted, are advancing under a well-digested system with all the dispatch which so important a work will admit. Our free Government, founded on the interest and affections of the people, has gained and is daily gaining strength. Local jealousies are rapidly yielding to more generous, enlarged, and enlightened views of national policy. For advantages so numerous and highly important it is our duty to unite in grateful acknowledgements to that Omnipotent Being from whom they are derived, and in unceasing prayer that He will endow us with virtue and strength to maintain and hand them down in their utmost purity to our latest posterity." With an engraved advertisement for whale oil and paper hanging, among other goods and services, on page 1, and a page 3 report defending the importation of some White House decor because the pieces were unavailable domestically.ConditionVery good, 1/4 inch chip in left margin costing a few letters, and 1/2 inch chip missing from p. 1 with no loss to text, neither affecting Monroe's words. …