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Thomas Jefferson, 1801:
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds."
Thomas Jefferson actually gave two inaugural addresses - in 1801 and 1805. The Jefferson Papers website says, "At noon on 4 Mch. 1801 in the Senate chamber of the Capitol, fifty-seven-year-old Thomas Jefferson took the oath of office as the nation’s third president. The occasion was, in Margaret Bayard Smith’s often quoted words, 'one of the most interesting scenes, a free people can ever witness.' According to Aaron Burr, the 'Day was serene & temperate—The Concourse of people immense—all passed off handsomely—great joy but no riot—no accident.'" He also said in his first address, "A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye — when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue, and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking." However, his second inaugural address contained passages about assimilating the Native American people: "...the endeavors to enlighten them on the fate which awaits their present course of life, to induce them to exercise their reason, follow its dictates, and change their pursuits with the change of circumstances have powerful obstacles to encounter; they are combated by the habits of their bodies, prejudices of their minds, ignorance, pride, and the influence of interested and crafty individuals among them who feel themselves something in the present order of things and fear to become nothing in any other." Jefferson was the nation's third president. One site describes his inaugural addresses as "his exposition of the understandings of the purpose of government and fundamental principles of the Constitution."
This image shows the statue of Thomas Jefferson inside of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC. Donald Trump will be sworn in as president on January 20, 2017 and give his own Inaugural Address. (Getty)