INAUGURATED AT WASHINGTON, MARCH 5, 1849.
MILLARD FILLMORE, VICE-PRESIDENT.
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| John M. Clayton, | Delaware, | March 6, | 1849, | Secretary of State. |
| William M. Meredith, | Pennsylvania, | March 6, | 1849, | Secretary of Treasury. |
| Thomas Ewing, | Ohio, | March 6, | 1849, | Sec'ry of Home Department.[82] |
| George W. Crawford, | Georgia, | March 6, | 1849, | Secretary of War. |
| William B. Preston, | Virginia, | March 6, | 1849, | Secretary of the Navy. |
| Jacob Collamar, | Vermont, | March 6, | 1849, | Postmaster General. |
| Reverdy Johnson, | Maryland, | March 6, | 1849, | Attorney General. |
It was an occasion of great rejoicing on Monday, the 5th of March, when the hero of Buena Vista stood on that spot at the eastern portico of the national capitol, where had stood Jefferson, Madison, and others, and baring his head, took the oath prescribed, to support the constitution, which was administered to him by Chief Justice Taney.
The inaugural address of General Taylor, like all his official communications to government while in the field, was brief—shorter than any similar address by any other president, except Mr. Madison's. To a majority of the people, it proved quite satisfactory, and even in England was pronounced an eloquent production. Previous to his election, General Taylor had declined all pledges, excepting the assurance to the nation, that he would never be the president of a party, but should endeavor, if elected, to bring back the government to the spirit of the constitution, as understood and administered by Washington. Other pledges than this, he now declined, standing, as he did, before God and the nation; but this pledge he was ready to renew. "In the discharge of these duties," said he, "my guide will be the constitution, which I this day swear to 'preserve, protect, and defend.' For the interpretation of that instrument, I shall look to the decisions of the judicial tribunals established by its authority, and to the practice of the government under the earliest presidents, who had so large a share in its formation.
"Chosen by the body of the people, under the assurance that my administration would be devoted to the welfare of the whole country, and not to the support of any particular section or merely local interests, I, this day, renew the declarations I have heretofore made, and proclaim my fixed determination to maintain, to the extent of my ability, the government in its original purity, and to adopt, as the basis of my public policy, those great republican doctrines which constitute the strength of our national existence."