William Bebb 1849 State of the State Address

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GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the
House of Representatives:
An eventful year in the history of nations has just drawn to
its close. It has summoned you as it past to the discharge)
once more, of your annual constitutional duties and obligations, under auspices inspiring every true American heart with
renewed patriotism, and profound adoration and gratitude to
Almighty God, our National Deliverer, and Beneficent Benefactor. Amidst the fearful and sublime uprisings of the people of
Europe, and the consequent downfall of dynasties, thrones and
dominions, the Model Republic, so long and so much scoffed
at by the advocates of monarchy, stands serene and unshaken.
Peace smiles again, on all her extended borders, and law,
abundance, freedom and contentment reign within. Questions
of foreign and domestic policy, of constitutional power and
obligation, of peace and war, of freedom and slavery, may, at
times, awaken, as they should, the dormant energies of her
people, and the renovating powers of her constitution. A
great party and its measures, may encounter the silent but potent condemnation of the ballot box. The president of to-day,
wielding, in wantonness, the power of twenty millions of people, may be weighed to-morrow in the balance and found wanting. Yet who does not perceive that the great American Republic, purified and strengthened by these awakenings, remains
fast anchored in the virtue, intelligence, habits, affections, and
deliberately formed judgment of her people of all parties ?
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