Quote
By Andrew Johnson
The best energies of my life have been spent in endeavoring to establish and perpetuate the principles of free government, and I believe that the Government in passing through its present perils will settle down upon principles consonant with popular rights more permanent and enduring than heretofore.
- Source
- Address Upon Assuming the Office of President of the United States, April 17, 1865
- Read at
- The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara
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About this quote
From Johnson's address on April 17, 1865, his first remarks as President after Lincoln's assassination. He looks to his past public life as the guide to what he will do.