From the view above presented it is manifest that the situation of the United States is in the highest degree prosperous and happy.  There is no object which as a people we can desire which we do not possess or which is not within our reach.  Blessed with governments the happiest which the world ever knew, with no distinct orders in society or divided interests in any portion of the vast territory over which their dominion extends, we have every motive to cling together which can animate a virtuous and enlightened people.  The great object is to preserve these blessings, and to hand them down to the latest posterity.

Our experience ought to satisfy us that our progress under the most correct and provident policy will not be exempt from danger.  Our institutions form an important epoch in the history of the civilized world.  On their preservation and in their utmost purity everything will depend.  Extending as our interests do to every part of the inhabited globe and to every sea to which our citizens are carried by their industry and enterprise, to which they are invited by the wants of others, and have a right to go, we must either protect them in the enjoyment of their rights or abandon them in certain events to waste and desolation.

Our attitude is highly interesting as relates to other powers, and particularly to our southern neighbors.  We have duties to perform with regard to all to which we must be faithful.  To every kind of danger we should pay the most vigilant and unceasing attention, remove the cause where it may be practicable, and be prepared to meet it when inevitable.

Against foreign danger the policy of the Government seems to be already settled.  The events of the late war admonished us to make our maritime frontier impregnable by a well-digested chain of fortifications, and to give efficient protection to our commerce by augmenting our Navy to a certain extent, which has been steadily pursued, and which it is incumbent upon us to complete as soon as circumstances will permit.  In the event of war it is on the maritime frontier that we shall be assailed.  It is in that quarter, therefore, that we should be prepared to meet the attack.  It is there that our whole force will be called into action to prevent the destruction of our towns and the desolation and pillage of the interior.

To give full effect to this policy great improvements will be indispensable.  Access to those works by every practicable communication should be made easy and in every direction.  The intercourse between every part of our Union should also be promoted and facilitated by the exercise of those powers which may comport with a faithful regard to the great principles of our Constitution.  With respect to internal causes, those great principles point out with equal certainty the policy to be pursued.