I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. JOHN TYLER APRIL 6, 1841. [Footnote A: The Secretary of the Navy was absent from the city.] DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, _City and County of Washington, ss_: I, William Cranch, chief judge of the circuit court of the District of Columbia, certify that the above-named John Tyler personally appeared before me this day, and although he deems himself qualified to perform the duties and exercise the powers and office of President on the death of William Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, without any other oath than that which he has taken as Vice-President, yet as doubts may _arise_, and for greater caution, took and subscribed the foregoing oath before me. W. CRANCH. APRIL 6, 1841. PROCLAMATION. TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. A RECOMMENDATION. WASHINGTON, _April 13, 1841_. When a Christian people feel themselves to be overtaken by a great public calamity, it becomes them to humble themselves under the dispensation of Divine Providence, to recognize His righteous government over the children of men, to acknowledge His goodness in time past, as well as their own unworthiness, and to supplicate His merciful protection for the future. The death of William Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, so soon after his elevation to that high office, is a bereavement peculiarly calculated to be regarded as a heavy affliction and to impress all minds with a sense of the uncertainty of human things and of the dependence of nations, as well as individuals, upon our Heavenly Parent. I have thought, therefore, that I should be acting in conformity with the general expectation and feelings of the community in recommending, as I now do, to the people of the United States of every religious denomination that, according to their several modes and forms of worship, they observe a day of fasting and prayer by such religious services as may be suitable on the occasion; and I recommend Friday, the 14th day of May next, for that purpose, to the end that on that day we may all with one accord join in humble and reverential approach to Him in whose hands we are, invoking Him to inspire us with a proper spirit and temper of heart and mind under these frowns of His providence and still to bestow His gracious benedictions upon our Government and our country. JOHN TYLER. [For "A resolution manifesting the sensibility of Congress upon the event of the death of William Henry Harrison, late President of the United States," see p. 55.] End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Harrison, by James D. Richardson