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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/896-h.zip b/896-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..474f918 --- /dev/null +++ b/896-h.zip diff --git a/896-h/896-h.htm b/896-h/896-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de8a2db --- /dev/null +++ b/896-h/896-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1356 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + 'Orations', by John Quincy Adams + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Orations, by John Quincy Adams + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Orations + +Author: John Quincy Adams + +Release Date: August 2, 2008 [EBook #896] +Last Updated: January 26, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORATIONS *** + + + + +Produced by Anthony J. Adam, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + "Orations" + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By John Quincy Adams + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + "The Jubilee of the Constitution, delivered at New York, April 30, 1839, + before the New York Historical Society." + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>Fellow-Citizens and Brethren, Associates of the New York Historical + Society:</b> + </p> + <p> + Would it be an unlicensed trespass of the imagination to conceive that on + the night preceding the day of which you now commemorate the fiftieth + anniversary—on the night preceding that thirtieth of April, 1789, + when from the balcony of your city hall the chancellor of the State of New + York administered to George Washington the solemn oath faithfully to + execute the office of President of the United States, and to the best of + his ability to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the + United States—that in the visions of the night the guardian angel of + the Father of our Country had appeared before him, in the venerated form + of his mother, and, to cheer and encourage him in the performance of the + momentous and solemn duties that he was about to assume, had delivered to + him a suit of celestial armor—a helmet, consisting of the principles + of piety, of justice, of honor, of benevolence, with which from his + earliest infancy he had hitherto walked through life, in the presence of + all his brethren; a spear, studded with the self-evident truths of the + Declaration of Independence; a sword, the same with which he had led the + armies of his country through the war of freedom to the summit of the + triumphal arch of independence; a corselet and cuishes of long experience + and habitual intercourse in peace and war with the world of mankind, his + contemporaries of the human race, in all their stages of civilization; + and, last of all, the Constitution of the United States, a shield, + embossed by heavenly hands with the future history of his country? + </p> + <p> + Yes, gentlemen, on that shield the Constitution of the United States was + sculptured (by forms unseen, and in characters then invisible to mortal + eye), the predestined and prophetic history of the one confederated people + of the North American Union. + </p> + <p> + They had been the settlers of thirteen separate and distinct English + colonies, along the margin of the shore of the North American Continent; + contiguously situated, but chartered by adventurers of characters + variously diversified, including sectarians, religious and political, of + all the classes which for the two preceding centuries had agitated and + divided the people of the British islands—and with them were + intermingled the descendants of Hollanders, Swedes, Germans, and French + fugitives from the persecution of the revoker of the Edict of Nantes. + </p> + <p> + In the bosoms of this people, thus heterogeneously composed, there was + burning, kindled at different furnaces, but all furnaces of affliction, + one clear, steady flame of liberty. Bold and daring enterprise, stubborn + endurance of privation, unflinching intrepidity in facing danger, and + inflexible adherence to conscientious principle, had steeled to energetic + and unyielding hardihood the characters of the primitive settlers of all + these colonies. Since that time two or three generations of men had passed + away, but they had increased and multiplied with unexampled rapidity; and + the land itself had been the recent theatre of a ferocious and bloody + seven years' war between the two most powerful and most civilized nations + of Europe contending for the possession of this continent. + </p> + <p> + Of that strife the victorious combatant had been Britain. She had + conquered the provinces of France. She had expelled her rival totally from + the continent, over which, bounding herself by the Mississippi, she was + thenceforth to hold divided empire only with Spain. She had acquired + undisputed control over the Indian tribes still tenanting the forests + unexplored by the European man. She had established an uncontested + monopoly of the commerce of all her colonies. But forgetting all the + warnings of preceding ages—forgetting the lessons written in the + blood of her own children, through centuries of departed time—she + undertook to tax the people of the colonies without their consent. + </p> + <p> + Resistance, instantaneous, unconcerted, sympathetic, inflexible + resistance, like an electric shock, startled and roused the people of all + the English colonies on this continent. + </p> + <p> + This was the first signal of the North American Union. The struggle was + for chartered rights—for English liberties—for the cause of + Algernon Sidney and John Hampden—for trial by jury—the Habeas + Corpus and Magna Charta. + </p> + <p> + But the English lawyers had decided that Parliament was omnipotent—and + Parliament, in its omnipotence, instead of trial by jury and the Habeas + Corpus, enacted admiralty courts in England to try Americans for offences + charged against them as committed in America; instead of the privileges of + Magna Charta, nullified the charter itself of Massachusetts Bay; shut up + the port of Boston; sent armies and navies to keep the peace and teach the + colonies that John Hampden was a rebel and Algernon Sidney a traitor. + </p> + <p> + English liberties had failed them. From the omnipotence of Parliament the + colonists appealed to the rights of man and the omnipotence of the God of + battles. Union! Union! was the instinctive and simultaneous cry throughout + the land. Their Congress, assembled at Philadelphia, once—twice—had + petitioned the king; had remonstrated to Parliament; had addressed the + people of Britain, for the rights of Englishmen—in vain. Fleets and + armies, the blood of Lexington, and the fires of Charlestown and Falmouth, + had been the answer to petition, remonstrance, and address.... + </p> + <p> + The dissolution of allegiance to the British crown, the severance of the + colonies from the British Empire, and their actual existence as + independent States, were definitively established in fact, by war and + peace. The independence of each separate State had never been declared of + right. It never existed in fact. Upon the principles of the Declaration of + Independence, the dissolution of the ties of allegiance, the assumption of + sovereign power, and the institution of civil government, are all acts of + transcendent authority, which the people alone are competent to perform; + and, accordingly, it is in the name and by the authority of the people, + that two of these acts—the dissolution of allegiance, with the + severance from the British Empire, and the declaration of the United + Colonies, as free and independent States—were performed by that + instrument. + </p> + <p> + But there still remained the last and crowning act, which the people of + the Union alone were competent to perform—the institution of civil + government, for that compound nation, the United States of America. + </p> + <p> + At this day it cannot but strike us as extraordinary, that it does not + appear to have occurred to any one member of that assembly, which had laid + down in terms so clear, so explicit, so unequivocal, the foundation of all + just government, in the imprescriptible rights of man, and the + transcendent sovereignty of the people, and who in those principles had + set forth their only personal vindication from the charges of rebellion + against their king, and of treason to their country, that their last + crowning act was still to be performed upon the same principles. That is, + the institution, by the people of the United States, of a civil + government, to guard and protect and defend them all. On the contrary, + that same assembly which issued the Declaration of Independence, instead + of continuing to act in the name and by the authority of the good people + of the United States, had, immediately after the appointment of the + committee to prepare the Declaration, appointed another committee, of one + member from each colony, to prepare and digest the form of confederation + to be entered into between the colonies. + </p> + <p> + That committee reported on the twelfth of July, eight days after the + Declaration of Independence had been issued, a draft of articles of + confederation between the colonies. This draft was prepared by John + Dickinson, then a delegate from Pennsylvania, who voted against the + Declaration of Independence, and never signed it, having been superseded + by a new election of delegates from that State, eight days after his draft + was reported. + </p> + <p> + There was thus no congeniality of principle between the Declaration of + Independence and the Articles of Confederation. The foundation of the + former was a superintending Providence—the rights of man, and the + constituent revolutionary power of the people. That of the latter was the + sovereignty of organized power, and the independence of the separate or + dis-united States. The fabric of the Declaration and that of the + Confederation were each consistent with its own foundation, but they could + not form one consistent, symmetrical edifice. They were the productions of + different minds and of adverse passions; one, ascending for the foundation + of human government to the laws of nature and of God, written upon the + heart of man; the other, resting upon the basis of human institutions, and + prescriptive law, and colonial charter. The cornerstone of the one was + right, that of the other was power.... + </p> + <p> + Where, then, did each State get the sovereignty, freedom, and + independence, which the Articles of Confederation declare it retains?—not + from the whole people of the whole Union—not from the Declaration of + Independence—not from the people of the State itself. It was assumed + by agreement between the Legislatures of the several States, and their + delegates in Congress, without authority from or consultation of the + people at all. + </p> + <p> + In the Declaration of Independence, the enacting and constituent party + dispensing and delegating sovereign power is the whole people of the + United Colonies. The recipient party, invested with power, is the United + Colonies, declared United States. + </p> + <p> + In the Articles of Confederation, this order of agency is inverted. Each + State is the constituent and enacting party, and the United States in + Congress assembled the recipient of delegated power—and that power + delegated with such a penurious and carking hand that it had more the + aspect of a revocation of the Declaration of Independence than an + instrument to carry it into effect. + </p> + <p> + None of these indispensably necessary powers were ever conferred by the + State Legislatures upon the Congress of the federation; and well was it + that they never were. The system itself was radically defective. Its + incurable disease was an apostasy from the principles of the Declaration + of Independence. A substitution of separate State sovereignties, in the + place of the constituent sovereignty of the people, was the basis of the + Confederate Union. + </p> + <p> + In the Congress of the Confederation, the master minds of James Madison + and Alexander Hamilton were constantly engaged through the closing years + of the Revolutionary War and those of peace which immediately succeeded. + That of John Jay was associated with them shortly after the peace, in the + capacity of Secretary to the Congress for Foreign Affairs. The + incompetency of the Articles of Confederation for the management of the + affairs of the Union at home and abroad was demonstrated to them by the + painful and mortifying experience of every day. Washington, though in + retirement, was brooding over the cruel injustice suffered by his + associates in arms, the warriors of the Revolution; over the prostration + of the public credit and the faith of the nation, in the neglect to + provide for the payments even of the interest upon the public debt; over + the disappointed hopes of the friends of freedom; in the language of the + address from Congress to the States of the eighteenth of April, 1788—"the + pride and boast of America, that the rights for which she contended were + the rights of human nature." + </p> + <p> + At his residence at Mount Vernon, in March, 1785, the first idea was + started of a revisal of the Articles of Confederation, by the + organization, of means differing from that of a compact between the State + Legislatures and their own delegates in Congress. A convention of + delegates from the State Legislatures, independent of the Congress itself, + was the expedient which presented itself for effecting the purpose, and an + augmentation of the powers of Congress for the regulation of commerce, as + the object for which this assembly was to be convened. In January, 1785, + the proposal was made and adopted in the Legislature of Virginia, and + communicated to the other State Legislatures. + </p> + <p> + The Convention was held at Annapolis, in September of that year. It was + attended by delegates from only five of the central States, who, on + comparing their restricted powers with the glaring and universally + acknowledged defects of the Confederation, reported only a recommendation + for the assemblage of another convention of delegates to meet at + Philadelphia, in May, 1787, from all the States, and with enlarged powers. + </p> + <p> + The Constitution of the United States was the work of this Convention. But + in its construction the Convention immediately perceived that they must + retrace their steps, and fall back from a league of friendship between + sovereign States to the constituent sovereignty of the people; from power + to right—from the irresponsible despotism of State sovereignty to + the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence. In that + instrument, the right to institute and to alter governments among men was + ascribed exclusively to the people—the ends of government were + declared to be to secure the natural rights of man; and that when the + government degenerates from the promotion to the destruction of that end, + the right and the duty accrues to the people to dissolve this degenerate + government and to institute another. The signers of the Declaration + further averred, that the one people of the United Colonies were then + precisely in that situation—with a government degenerated into + tyranny, and called upon by the laws of nature and of nature's God to + dissolve that government and to institute another. Then, in the name and + by the authority of the good people of the colonies, they pronounced the + dissolution of their allegiance to the king, and their eternal separation + from the nation of Great Britain—and declared the United Colonies + independent States. And here as the representatives of the one people they + had stopped. They did not require the confirmation of this act, for the + power to make the declaration had already been conferred upon them by the + people, delegating the power, indeed, separately in the separate colonies, + not by colonial authority, but by the spontaneous revolutionary movement + of the people in them all. + </p> + <p> + From the day of that Declaration, the constituent power of the people had + never been called into action. A confederacy had been substituted in the + place of a government, and State sovereignty had usurped the constituent + sovereignty of the people. + </p> + <p> + The Convention assembled at Philadelphia had themselves no direct + authority from the people. Their authority was all derived from the State + Legislatures. But they had the Articles of Confederation before them, and + they saw and felt the wretched condition into which they had brought the + whole people, and that the Union itself was in the agonies of death. They + soon perceived that the indispensably needed powers were such as no State + government, no combination of them, was by the principles of the + Declaration of Independence competent to bestow. They could emanate only + from the people. A highly respectable portion of the assembly, still + clinging to the confederacy of States, proposed, as a substitute for the + Constitution, a mere revival of the Articles of Confederation, with a + grant of additional powers to the Congress. Their plan was respectfully + and thoroughly discussed, but the want of a government and of the sanction + of the people to the delegation of powers happily prevailed. A + constitution for the people, and the distribution of legislative, + executive, and judicial powers was prepared. It announced itself as the + work of the people themselves; and as this was unquestionably a power + assumed by the Convention, not delegated to them by the people, they + religiously confined it to a simple power to propose, and carefully + provided that it should be no more than a proposal until sanctioned by the + Confederation Congress, by the State Legislatures, and by the people of + the several States, in conventions specially assembled, by authority of + their Legislatures, for the single purpose of examining and passing upon + it. + </p> + <p> + And thus was consummated the work commenced by the Declaration of + Independence—a work in which the people of the North American Union, + acting under the deepest sense of responsibility to the Supreme Ruler of + the universe, had achieved the most transcendent act of power that social + man in his mortal condition can perform—even that of dissolving the + ties of allegiance by which he is bound to his country; of renouncing that + country itself; of demolishing its government; of instituting another + government; and of making for himself another country in its stead. + </p> + <p> + And on that day, of which you now commemorate the fiftieth anniversary—on + that thirtieth day of April, 1789—was this mighty revolution, not + only in the affairs of our own country, but in the principles of + government over civilized man, accomplished. + </p> + <p> + The Revolution itself was a work of thirteen years—and had never + been completed until that day. The Declaration of Independence and the + Constitution of the United States are parts of one consistent whole, + founded upon one and the same theory of government, then new in practice, + though not as a theory, for it had been working itself into the mind of + man for many ages, and had been especially expounded in the writings of + Locke, though it had never before been adopted by a great nation in + practice. + </p> + <p> + There are yet, even at this day, many speculative objections to this + theory. Even in our own country there are still philosophers who deny the + principles asserted in the Declaration, as self-evident truths—who + deny the natural equality and inalienable rights of man—who deny + that the people are the only legitimate source of power—who deny + that all just powers of government are derived from the consent of the + governed. Neither your time, nor perhaps the cheerful nature of this + occasion, permit me here to enter upon the examination of this + anti-revolutionary theory, which arrays State sovereignty against the + constituent sovereignty of the people, and distorts the Constitution of + the United States into a league of friendship between confederate + corporations. I speak to matters of fact. There is the Declaration of + Independence, and there is the Constitution of the United States—let + them speak for themselves. The grossly immoral and dishonest doctrine of + despotic State sovereignty, the exclusive judge of its own obligations, + and responsible to no power on earth or in heaven, for the violation of + them, is not there. The Declaration says, it is not in me. The + Constitution says, it is not in me. + </p> + <p> + "Oration at Plymouth, December 22, 1802, in Commemoration of the Landing + of the Pilgrims." + </p> + <p> + Among the sentiments of most powerful operation upon the human heart, and + most highly honorable to the human character, are those of veneration for + our forefathers, and of love for our posterity. They form the connecting + links between the selfish and the social passions. By the fundamental + principle of Christianity, the happiness of the individual is interwoven, + by innumerable and imperceptible ties, with that of his contemporaries. By + the power of filial reverence and parental affection, individual existence + is extended beyond the limits of individual life, and the happiness of + every age is chained in mutual dependence upon that of every other. + Respect for his ancestors excites, in the breast of man, interest in their + history, attachment to their characters, concern for their errors, + involuntary pride in their virtues. Love for his posterity spurs him to + exertion for their support, stimulates him to virtue for their example, + and fills him with the tenderest solicitude for their welfare. Man, + therefore, was not made for himself alone. No, he was made for his + country, by the obligations of the social compact; he was made for his + species, by the Christian duties of universal charity; he was made for all + ages past, by the sentiment of reverence for his forefathers; and he was + made for all future times, by the impulse of affection for his progeny. + Under the influence of these principles, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Existence sees him spurn her bounded reign." +</pre> + <p> + They redeem his nature from the subjection of time and space; he is no + longer a "puny insect shivering at a breeze"; he is the glory of creation, + formed to occupy all time and all extent; bounded, during his residence + upon earth, only to the boundaries of the world, and destined to life and + immortality in brighter regions, when the fabric of nature itself shall + dissolve and perish. + </p> + <p> + The voice of history has not, in all its compass, a note but answers in + unison with these sentiments. The barbarian chieftain, who defended his + country against the Roman invasion, driven to the remotest extremity of + Britain, and stimulating his followers to battle by all that has power of + persuasion upon the human heart, concluded his persuasion by an appeal to + these irresistible feelings: "Think of your forefathers and of your + posterity." The Romans themselves, at the pinnacle of civilization, were + actuated by the same impressions, and celebrated, in anniversary + festivals, every great event which had signalized the annals of their + forefathers. To multiply instances where it were impossible to adduce an + exception would be to waste your time and abuse your patience; but in the + sacred volume, which contains the substances of our firmest faith and of + our most precious hopes, these passions not only maintain their highest + efficacy, but are sanctioned by the express injunctions of the Divine + Legislator to his chosen people. + </p> + <p> + The revolutions of time furnish no previous example of a nation shooting + up to maturity and expanding into greatness with the rapidity which has + characterized the growth of the American people. In the luxuriance of + youth, and in the vigor of manhood, it is pleasing and instructive to look + backward upon the helpless days of infancy; but in the continual and + essential changes of a growing subject, the transactions of that early + period would be soon obliterated from the memory but for some periodical + call of attention to aid the silent records of the historian. Such + celebrations arouse and gratify the kindliest emotions of the bosom. They + are faithful pledges of the respect we bear to the memory of our ancestors + and of the tenderness with which we cherish the rising generation. They + introduce the sages and heroes of ages past to the notice and emulation of + succeeding times; they are at once testimonials of our gratitude, and + schools of virtue to our children. + </p> + <p> + These sentiments are wise; they are honorable; they are virtuous; their + cultivation is not merely innocent pleasure, it is incumbent duty. + Obedient to their dictates, you, my fellow-citizens, have instituted and + paid frequent observance to this annual solemnity, and what event of + weightier intrinsic importance, or of more extensive consequences, was + ever selected for this honorary distinction? + </p> + <p> + In reverting to the period of our origin, other nations have generally + been compelled to plunge into the chaos of impenetrable antiquity, or to + trace a lawless ancestry into the caverns of ravishers and robbers. It is + your peculiar privilege to commemorate, in this birthday of your nation, + an event ascertained in its minutest details; an event of which the + principal actors are known to you familiarly, as if belonging to your own + age; an event of a magnitude before which imagination shrinks at the + imperfection of her powers. It is your further happiness to behold, in + those eminent characters, who were most conspicuous in accomplishing the + settlement of your country, men upon whose virtue you can dwell with + honest exultation. The founders of your race are not handed down to you, + like the fathers of the Roman people, as the sucklings of a wolf. You are + not descended from a nauseous compound of fanaticism and sensuality, whose + only argument was the sword, and whose only paradise was a brothel. No + Gothic scourge of God, no Vandal pest of nations, no fabled fugitive from + the flames of Troy, no bastard Norman tyrant, appears among the list of + worthies who first landed on the rock, which your veneration has preserved + as a lasting monument of their achievement. The great actors of the day we + now solemnize were illustrious by their intrepid valor no less than by + their Christian graces, but the clarion of conquest has not blazoned forth + their names to all the winds of heaven. Their glory has not been wafted + over oceans of blood to the remotest regions of the earth. They have not + erected to themselves colossal statues upon pedestals of human bones, to + provoke and insult the tardy hand of heavenly retribution. But theirs was + "the better fortitude of patience and heroic martyrdom." Theirs was the + gentle temper of Christian kindness; the rigorous observance of reciprocal + justice; the unconquerable soul of conscious integrity. Worldly fame has + been parsimonious of her favor to the memory of those generous companions. + Their numbers were small; their stations in life obscure; the object of + their enterprise unostentatious; the theatre of their exploits remote; how + could they possibly be favorites of worldly Fame—that common crier, + whose existence is only known by the assemblage of multitudes; that pander + of wealth and greatness, so eager to haunt the palaces of fortune, and so + fastidious to the houseless dignity of virtue; that parasite of pride, + ever scornful to meekness, and ever obsequious to insolent power; that + heedless trumpeter, whose ears are deaf to modest merit, and whose eyes + are blind to bloodless, distant excellence? + </p> + <p> + When the persecuted companions of Robinson, exiles from their native land, + anxiously sued for the privilege of removing a thousand leagues more + distant to an untried soil, a rigorous climate, and a savage wilderness, + for the sake of reconciling their sense of religious duty with their + affections for their country, few, perhaps none of them, formed a + conception of what would be, within two centuries, the result of their + undertaking. When the jealous and niggardly policy of their British + sovereign denied them even that humblest of requests, and instead of + liberty would barely consent to promise connivance, neither he nor they + might be aware that they were laying the foundations of a power, and that + he was sowing the seeds of a spirit, which, in less than two hundred + years, would stagger the throne of his descendants, and shake his united + kingdoms to the centre. So far is it from the ordinary habits of mankind + to calculate the importance of events in their elementary principles, that + had the first colonists of our country ever intimated as a part of their + designs the project of founding a great and mighty nation, the finger of + scorn would have pointed them to the cells of Bedlam as an abode more + suitable for hatching vain empires than the solitude of a transatlantic + desert. + </p> + <p> + These consequences, then so little foreseen, have unfolded themselves, in + all their grandeur, to the eyes of the present age. It is a common + amusement of speculative minds to contrast the magnitude of the most + important events with the minuteness of their primeval causes, and the + records of mankind are full of examples for such contemplations. It is, + however, a more profitable employment to trace the constituent principles + of future greatness in their kernel; to detect in the acorn at our feet + the germ of that majestic oak, whose roots shoot down to the centre, and + whose branches aspire to the skies. Let it be, then, our present + occupation to inquire and endeavor to ascertain the causes first put in + operation at the period of our commemoration, and already productive of + such magnificent effects; to examine with reiterated care and minute + attention the characters of those men who gave the first impulse to a new + series of events in the history of the world; to applaud and emulate those + qualities of their minds which we shall find deserving of our admiration; + to recognize with candor those features which forbid approbation or even + require censure, and, finally, to lay alike their frailties and their + perfections to our own hearts, either as warning or as example. + </p> + <p> + Of the various European settlements upon this continent, which have + finally merged in one independent nation, the first establishments were + made at various times, by several nations, and under the influence of + different motives. In many instances, the conviction of religious + obligation formed one and a powerful inducement of the adventures; but in + none, excepting the settlement at Plymouth, did they constitute the sole + and exclusive actuating cause. Worldly interest and commercial speculation + entered largely into the views of other settlers, but the commands of + conscience were the only stimulus to the emigrants from Leyden. Previous + to their expedition hither, they had endured a long banishment from their + native country. Under every species of discouragement, they undertook the + voyage; they performed it in spite of numerous and almost insuperable + obstacles; they arrived upon a wilderness bound with frost and hoary with + snow, without the boundaries of their charter, outcasts from all human + society, and coasted five weeks together, in the dead of winter, on this + tempestuous shore, exposed at once to the fury of the elements, to the + arrows of the native savage, and to the impending horrors of famine. + </p> + <p> + Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which + difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. These qualities have + ever been displayed in their mightiest perfection, as attendants in the + retinue of strong passions. From the first discovery of the Western + Hemisphere by Columbus until the settlement of Virginia which immediately + preceded that of Plymouth, the various adventurers from the ancient world + had exhibited upon innumerable occasions that ardor of enterprise and that + stubbornness of pursuit which set all danger at defiance, and chained the + violence of nature at their feet. But they were all instigated by personal + interests. Avarice and ambition had tuned their souls to that pitch of + exaltation. Selfish passions were the parents of their heroism. It was + reserved for the first settlers of new England to perform achievements + equally arduous, to trample down obstructions equally formidable, to + dispel dangers equally terrific, under the single inspiration of + conscience. To them even liberty herself was but a subordinate and + secondary consideration. They claimed exemption from the mandates of human + authority, as militating with their subjection to a superior power. Before + the voice of Heaven they silenced even the calls of their country. + </p> + <p> + Yet, while so deeply impressed with the sense of religious obligation, + they felt, in all its energy, the force of that tender tie which binds the + heart of every virtuous man to his native land. It was to renew that + connection with their country which had been severed by their compulsory + expatriation, that they resolved to face all the hazards of a perilous + navigation and all the labors of a toilsome distant settlement. Under the + mild protection of the Batavian Government, they enjoyed already that + freedom of religious worship, for which they had resigned so many comforts + and enjoyments at home; but their hearts panted for a restoration to the + bosom of their country. Invited and urged by the open-hearted and truly + benevolent people who had given them an asylum from the persecution of + their own kindred to form their settlement within the territories then + under their jurisdiction, the love of their country predominated over + every influence save that of conscience alone, and they preferred the + precarious chance of relaxation from the bigoted rigor of the English + Government to the certain liberality and alluring offers of the + Hollanders. Observe, my countrymen, the generous patriotism, the cordial + union of soul, the conscious yet unaffected vigor which beam in their + application to the British monarch: + </p> + <p> + "They were well weaned from the delicate milk of their mother country, and + inured to the difficulties of a strange land. They were knit together in a + strict and sacred bond, to take care of the good of each other and of the + whole. It was not with them as with other men, whom small things could + discourage, or small discontents cause to wish themselves again at home." + </p> + <p> + Children of these exalted Pilgrims! Is there one among you who can hear + the simple and pathetic energy of these expressions without tenderness and + admiration? Venerated shades of our forefathers! No, ye were, indeed, not + ordinary men! That country which had ejected you so cruelly from her bosom + you still delighted to contemplate in the character of an affectionate and + beloved mother. The sacred bond which knit you together was indissoluble + while you lived; and oh, may it be to your descendants the example and the + pledge of harmony to the latest period of time! The difficulties and + dangers, which so often had defeated attempts of similar establishments, + were unable to subdue souls tempered like yours. You heard the rigid + interdictions; you saw the menacing forms of toil and danger, forbidding + your access to this land of promise; but you heard without dismay; you saw + and disdained retreat. Firm and undaunted in the confidence of that sacred + bond; conscious of the purity, and convinced of the importance of your + motives, you put your trust in the protecting shield of Providence, and + smiled defiance at the combining terrors of human malice and of elemental + strife. These, in the accomplishment of your undertaking, you were + summoned to encounter in their most hideous forms; these you met with that + fortitude, and combated with that perseverance, which you had promised in + their anticipation; these you completely vanquished in establishing the + foundations of New England, and the day which we now commemorate is the + perpetual memorial of your triumph. + </p> + <p> + It were an occupation peculiarly pleasing to cull from our early + historians, and exhibit before you every detail of this transaction; to + carry you in imagination on board their bark at the first moment of her + arrival in the bay; to accompany Carver, Winslow, Bradford, and Standish, + in all their excursions upon the desolate coast; to follow them into every + rivulet and creek where they endeavored to find a firm footing, and to + fix, with a pause of delight and exultation, the instant when the first of + these heroic adventurers alighted on the spot where you, their + descendants, now enjoy the glorious and happy reward of their labors. But + in this grateful task, your former orators, on this anniversary, have + anticipated all that the most ardent industry could collect, and gratified + all that the most inquisitive curiosity could desire. To you, my friends, + every occurrence of that momentous period is already familiar. A transient + allusion to a few characteristic instances, which mark the peculiar + history of the Plymouth settlers, may properly supply the place of a + narrative, which, to this auditory, must be superfluous. + </p> + <p> + One of these remarkable incidents is the execution of that instrument of + government by which they formed themselves into a body politic, the day + after their arrival upon the coast, and previous to their first landing. + That is, perhaps, the only instance in human history of that positive, + original social compact, which speculative philosophers have imagined as + the only legitimate source of government. Here was a unanimous and + personal assent, by all the individuals of the community, to the + association by which they became a nation. It was the result of + circumstances and discussions which had occurred during their passage from + Europe, and is a full demonstration that the nature of civil government, + abstracted from the political institutions of their native country, had + been an object of their serious meditation. The settlers of all the former + European colonies had contented themselves with the powers conferred upon + them by their respective charters, without looking beyond the seal of the + royal parchment for the measure of their rights and the rule of their + duties. The founders of Plymouth had been impelled by the peculiarities of + their situation to examine the subject with deeper and more comprehensive + research. After twelve years of banishment from the land of their first + allegiance, during which they had been under an adoptive and temporary + subjection to another sovereign, they must naturally have been led to + reflect upon the relative rights and duties of allegiance and subjection. + They had resided in a city, the seat of a university, where the polemical + and political controversies of the time were pursued with uncommon fervor. + In this period they had witnessed the deadly struggle between the two + parties, into which the people of the United Provinces, after their + separation from the crown of Spain, had divided themselves. The contest + embraced within its compass not only theological doctrines, but political + principles, and Maurice and Barnevelt were the temporal leaders of the + same rival factions, of which Episcopius and Polyander were the + ecclesiastical champions. + </p> + <p> + That the investigation of the fundamental principles of government was + deeply implicated in these dissensions is evident from the immortal work + of Grotius, upon the rights of war and peace, which undoubtedly originated + from them. Grotius himself had been a most distinguished actor and + sufferer in those important scenes of internal convulsion, and his work + was first published very shortly after the departure of our forefathers + from Leyden. It is well known that in the course of the contest Mr. + Robinson more than once appeared, with credit to himself, as a public + disputant against Episcopius; and from the manner in which the fact is + related by Governor Bradford, it is apparent that the whole English Church + at Leyden took a zealous interest in the religious part of the + controversy. As strangers in the land, it is presumable that they wisely + and honorably avoided entangling themselves in the political contentions + involved with it. Yet the theoretic principles, as they were drawn into + discussion, could not fail to arrest their attention, and must have + assisted them to form accurate ideas concerning the origin and extent of + authority among men, independent of positive institutions. The importance + of these circumstances will not be duly weighed without taking into + consideration the state of opinion then prevalent in England. The general + principles of government were there little understood and less examined. + The whole substance of human authority was centred in the simple doctrine + of royal prerogative, the origin of which was always traced in theory to + divine institution. Twenty years later, the subject was more industriously + sifted, and for half a century became one of the principal topics of + controversy between the ablest and most enlightened men in the nation. The + instrument of voluntary association executed on board the "Mayflower" + testifies that the parties to it had anticipated the improvement of their + nation. + </p> + <p> + Another incident, from which we may derive occasion for important + reflections, was the attempt of these original settlers to establish among + them that community of goods and of labor, which fanciful politicians, + from the days of Plato to those of Rousseau, have recommended as the + fundamental law of a perfect republic. This theory results, it must be + acknowledged, from principles of reasoning most flattering to the human + character. If industry, frugality, and disinterested integrity were alike + the virtues of all, there would, apparently, be more of the social spirit, + in making all property a common stock, and giving to each individual a + proportional title to the wealth of the whole. Such is the basis upon + which Plato forbids, in his Republic, the division of property. Such is + the system upon which Rousseau pronounces the first man who inclosed a + field with a fence, and said, "This is mine," a traitor to the human + species. A wiser and more useful philosophy, however, directs us to + consider man according to the nature in which he was formed; subject to + infirmities, which no wisdom can remedy; to weaknesses, which no + institution can strengthen; to vices, which no legislation can correct. + Hence, it becomes obvious that separate property is the natural and + indisputable right of separate exertion; that community of goods without + community of toil is oppressive and unjust; that it counteracts the laws + of nature, which prescribe that he only who sows the seed shall reap the + harvest; that it discourages all energy, by destroying its rewards; and + makes the most virtuous and active members of society the slaves and + drudges of the worst. Such was the issue of this experiment among our + forefathers, and the same event demonstrated the error of the system in + the elder settlement of Virginia. Let us cherish that spirit of harmony + which prompted our forefathers to make the attempt, under circumstances + more favorable to its success than, perhaps, ever occurred upon earth. Let + us no less admire the candor with which they relinquished it, upon + discovering its irremediable inefficacy. To found principles of government + upon too advantageous an estimate of the human character is an error of + inexperience, the source of which is so amiable that it is impossible to + censure it with severity. We have seen the same mistake committed in our + own age, and upon a larger theatre. Happily for our ancestors, their + situation allowed them to repair it before its effects had proved + destructive. They had no pride of vain philosophy to support, no + perfidious rage of faction to glut, by persevering in their mistakes until + they should be extinguished in torrents of blood. + </p> + <p> + As the attempt to establish among themselves the community of goods was a + seal of that sacred bond which knit them so closely together, so the + conduct they observed toward the natives of the country displays their + steadfast adherence to the rules of justice and their faithful attachment + to those of benevolence and charity. + </p> + <p> + No European settlement ever formed upon this continent has been more + distinguished for undeviating kindness and equity toward the savages. + There are, indeed, moralists who have questioned the right of the + Europeans to intrude upon the possessions of the aboriginals in any case, + and under any limitations whatsoever. But have they maturely considered + the whole subject? The Indian right of possession itself stands, with + regard to the greater part of the country, upon a questionable foundation. + Their cultivated fields; their constructed habitations; a space of ample + sufficiency for their subsistence, and whatever they had annexed to + themselves by personal labor, was undoubtedly, by the laws of nature, + theirs. But what is the right of a huntsman to the forest of a thousand + miles over which he has accidentally ranged in quest of prey? Shall the + liberal bounties of Providence to the race of man be monopolized by one of + ten thousand for whom they were created? Shall the exuberant bosom of the + common mother, amply adequate to the nourishment of millions, be claimed + exclusively by a few hundreds of her offspring? Shall the lordly savage + not only disdain the virtues and enjoyments of civilization himself, but + shall he control the civilization of a world? Shall he forbid the + wilderness to blossom like a rose? Shall he forbid the oaks of the forest + to fall before the axe of industry, and to rise again, transformed into + the habitations of ease and elegance? shall he doom an immense region of + the globe to perpetual desolation, and to hear the howlings of the tiger + and the wolf silence forever the voice of human gladness? Shall the fields + and the valleys, which a beneficent God has formed to teem with the life + of innumerable multitudes, be condemned to everlasting barrenness? Shall + the mighty rivers, poured out by the hand of nature, as channels of + communication between numerous nations, roll their waters in sullen + silence and eternal solitude of the deep? Have hundreds of commodious + harbors, a thousand leagues of coast, and a boundless ocean, been spread + in the front of this land, and shall every purpose of utility to which + they could apply be prohibited by the tenant of the woods? No, generous + philanthropists! Heaven has not been thus inconsistent in the works of its + hands. Heaven has not thus placed at irreconcilable strife its moral laws + with its physical creation. The Pilgrims of Plymouth obtained their right + of possession to the territory on which they settled, by titles as fair + and unequivocal as any human property can be held. By their voluntary + association they recognized their allegiance to the government of Britain, + and in process of time received whatever powers and authorities could be + conferred upon them by a charter from their sovereign. The spot on which + they fixed had belonged to an Indian tribe, totally extirpated by that + devouring pestilence which had swept the country shortly before their + arrival. The territory, thus free from all exclusive possession, they + might have taken by the natural right of occupancy. Desirous, however, of + giving amply satisfaction to every pretence of prior right, by formal and + solemn conventions with the chiefs of the neighboring tribes, they + acquired the further security of a purchase. At their hands the children + of the desert had no cause of complaint. On the great day of retribution, + what thousands, what millions of the American race will appear at the bar + of judgment to arraign their European invading conquerors! Let us humbly + hope that the fathers of the Plymouth Colony will then appear in the + whiteness of innocence. Let us indulge in the belief that they will not + only be free from all accusation of injustice to these unfortunate sons of + nature, but that the testimonials of their acts of kindness and + benevolence toward them will plead the cause of their virtues, as they are + now authenticated by the record of history upon earth. + </p> + <p> + Religious discord has lost her sting; the cumbrous weapons of theological + warfare are antiquated; the field of politics supplies the alchemists of + our times with materials of more fatal explosion, and the butchers of + mankind no longer travel to another world for instruments of cruelty and + destruction. Our age is too enlightened to contend upon topics which + concern only the interests of eternity; the men who hold in proper + contempt all controversies about trifles, except such as inflame their own + passions, have made it a commonplace censure against your ancestors, that + their zeal was enkindled by subjects of trivial importance; and that + however aggrieved by the intolerance of others, they were alike intolerant + themselves. Against these objections, your candid judgment will not + require an unqualified justification; but your respect and gratitude for + the founders of the State may boldly claim an ample apology. The original + grounds of their separation from the Church of England were not objects of + a magnitude to dissolve the bonds of communion, much less those of + charity, between Christian brethren of the same essential principles. Some + of them, however, were not inconsiderable, and numerous inducements + concurred to give them an extraordinary interest in their eyes. When that + portentous system of abuses, the Papal dominion, was overturned, a great + variety of religious sects arose in its stead in the several countries, + which for many centuries before had been screwed beneath its subjection. + The fabric of the Reformation, first undertaken in England upon a + contracted basis, by a capricious and sanguinary tyrant, had been + successively overthrown and restored, renewed and altered, according to + the varying humors and principles of four successive monarchs. To + ascertain the precise point of division between the genuine institutions + of Christianity and the corruptions accumulated upon them in the progress + of fifteen centuries, was found a task of extreme difficulty throughout + the Christian world. + </p> + <p> + Men of the profoundest learning, of the sublimest genius, and of the + purest integrity, after devoting their lives to the research, finally + differed in their ideas upon many great points, both of doctrine and + discipline. The main question, it was admitted on all hands, most + intimately concerned the highest interests of man, both temporal and + eternal. Can we wonder that men who felt their happiness here and their + hopes of hereafter, their worldly welfare and the kingdom of heaven at + stake, should sometimes attach an importance beyond their intrinsic weight + to collateral points of controversy, connected with the all-involving + object of the Reformation? The changes in the forms and principles of + religious worship were introduced and regulated in England by the hand of + public authority. But that hand had not been uniform or steady in its + operations. During the persecutions inflicted in the interval of Popish + restoration under the reign of Mary, upon all who favored the Reformation, + many of the most zealous reformers had been compelled to fly their + country. While residing on the continent of Europe, they had adopted the + principles of the most complete and rigorous reformation, as taught and + established by Calvin. On returning afterward to their native country, + they were dissatisfied with the partial reformation, at which, as they + conceived, the English establishment had rested; and claiming the + privilege of private conscience, upon which alone any departure from the + Church of Rome could be justified, they insisted upon the right of + adhering to the system of their own preference, and, of course, upon that + of non-conformity to the establishment prescribed by the royal authority. + The only means used to convince them of error and reclaim them from + dissent was force, and force served but to confirm the opposition it was + meant to suppress. By driving the founders of the Plymouth Colony into + exile, it constrained them to absolute separation irreconcilable. Viewing + their religious liberties here, as held only by sufferance, yet bound to + them by all the ties of conviction, and by all their sufferings for them, + could they forbear to look upon every dissenter among themselves with a + jealous eye? Within two years after their landing, they beheld a rival + settlement attempted in their immediate neighborhood; and not long after, + the laws of self-preservation compelled them to break up a nest of + revellers, who boasted of protection from the mother country, and who had + recurred to the easy but pernicious resource of feeding their wanton + idleness, by furnishing the savages with the means, the skill, and the + instruments of European destruction. Toleration, in that instance, would + have been self-murder, and many other examples might be alleged, in which + their necessary measures of self-defence have been exaggerated into + cruelty, and their most indispensable precautions distorted into + persecution. Yet shall we not pretend that they were exempt from the + common laws of mortality, or entirely free from all the errors of their + age. Their zeal might sometimes be too ardent, but it was always sincere. + At this day, religious indulgence is one of our clearest duties, because + it is one of our undisputed rights. While we rejoice that the principles + of genuine Christianity have so far triumphed over the prejudices of a + former generation, let us fervently hope for the day when it will prove + equally victorious over the malignant passions of our own. + </p> + <p> + In thus calling your attention to some of the peculiar features in the + principles, the character, and the history of our forefathers, it is as + wide from my design, as I know it would be from your approbation, to adorn + their memory with a chaplet plucked from the domain of others. The + occasion and the day are more peculiarly devoted to them, and let it never + be dishonored with a contracted and exclusive spirit. Our affections as + citizens embrace the whole extent of the Union, and the names of Raleigh, + Smith, Winthrop, Calvert, Penn and Oglethorpe excite in our minds + recollections equally pleasing and gratitude equally fervent with those of + Carver and Bradford. Two centuries have not yet elapsed since the first + European foot touched the soil which now constitutes the American Union. + Two centuries more and our numbers must exceed those of Europe itself. The + destinies of their empire, as they appear in prospect before us, disdain + the powers of human calculation. Yet, as the original founder of the Roman + State is said once to have lifted upon his shoulders the fame and fortunes + of all his posterity, so let us never forget that the glory and greatness + of all our descendants is in our hands. Preserve in all their purity, + refine, if possible, from all their alloy, those virtues which we this day + commemorate as the ornament of our forefathers. Adhere to them with + inflexible resolution, as to the horns of the altar; instil them with + unwearied perseverance into the minds of your children; bind your souls + and theirs to the national Union as the chords of life are centred in the + heart, and you shall soar with rapid and steady wing to the summit of + human glory. Nearly a century ago, one of those rare minds to whom it is + given to discern future greatness in its seminal principles, upon + contemplating the situation of this continent, pronounced, in a vein of + poetic inspiration, "Westward the star of empire takes its way." Let us + unite in ardent supplication to the Founder of nations and the Builder of + worlds, that what then was prophecy may continue unfolding into history—that + the dearest hopes of the human race may not be extinguished in + disappointment, and that the last may prove the noblest empire of time. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Orations, by John Quincy Adams + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORATIONS *** + +***** This file should be named 896-h.htm or 896-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/9/896/ + +Produced by Anthony J. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Orations + +Author: John Quincy Adams + +Posting Date: August 2, 2008 [EBook #896] +Release Date: April, 1997 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORATIONS *** + + + + +Produced by Anthony J. Adam + + + + + +"ORATIONS" + +By John Quincy Adams + + +"The Jubilee of the Constitution, delivered at New York, April 30, 1839, +before the New York Historical Society." + + + +Fellow-Citizens and Brethren, Associates of the New York Historical +Society: + +Would it be an unlicensed trespass of the imagination to conceive that +on the night preceding the day of which you now commemorate the fiftieth +anniversary--on the night preceding that thirtieth of April, 1789, when +from the balcony of your city hall the chancellor of the State of New +York administered to George Washington the solemn oath faithfully to +execute the office of President of the United States, and to the best +of his ability to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the +United States--that in the visions of the night the guardian angel of +the Father of our Country had appeared before him, in the venerated form +of his mother, and, to cheer and encourage him in the performance of the +momentous and solemn duties that he was about to assume, had delivered +to him a suit of celestial armor--a helmet, consisting of the principles +of piety, of justice, of honor, of benevolence, with which from his +earliest infancy he had hitherto walked through life, in the presence of +all his brethren; a spear, studded with the self-evident truths of the +Declaration of Independence; a sword, the same with which he had led the +armies of his country through the war of freedom to the summit of +the triumphal arch of independence; a corselet and cuishes of long +experience and habitual intercourse in peace and war with the world of +mankind, his contemporaries of the human race, in all their stages of +civilization; and, last of all, the Constitution of the United States, +a shield, embossed by heavenly hands with the future history of his +country? + +Yes, gentlemen, on that shield the Constitution of the United States was +sculptured (by forms unseen, and in characters then invisible to mortal +eye), the predestined and prophetic history of the one confederated +people of the North American Union. + +They had been the settlers of thirteen separate and distinct English +colonies, along the margin of the shore of the North American Continent; +contiguously situated, but chartered by adventurers of characters +variously diversified, including sectarians, religious and political, of +all the classes which for the two preceding centuries had agitated +and divided the people of the British islands--and with them were +intermingled the descendants of Hollanders, Swedes, Germans, and French +fugitives from the persecution of the revoker of the Edict of Nantes. + +In the bosoms of this people, thus heterogeneously composed, there was +burning, kindled at different furnaces, but all furnaces of affliction, +one clear, steady flame of liberty. Bold and daring enterprise, stubborn +endurance of privation, unflinching intrepidity in facing danger, +and inflexible adherence to conscientious principle, had steeled to +energetic and unyielding hardihood the characters of the primitive +settlers of all these colonies. Since that time two or three generations +of men had passed away, but they had increased and multiplied with +unexampled rapidity; and the land itself had been the recent theatre of +a ferocious and bloody seven years' war between the two most powerful +and most civilized nations of Europe contending for the possession of +this continent. + +Of that strife the victorious combatant had been Britain. She had +conquered the provinces of France. She had expelled her rival totally +from the continent, over which, bounding herself by the Mississippi, she +was thenceforth to hold divided empire only with Spain. She had acquired +undisputed control over the Indian tribes still tenanting the forests +unexplored by the European man. She had established an uncontested +monopoly of the commerce of all her colonies. But forgetting all the +warnings of preceding ages--forgetting the lessons written in the blood +of her own children, through centuries of departed time--she undertook +to tax the people of the colonies without their consent. + +Resistance, instantaneous, unconcerted, sympathetic, inflexible +resistance, like an electric shock, startled and roused the people of +all the English colonies on this continent. + +This was the first signal of the North American Union. The struggle was +for chartered rights--for English liberties--for the cause of Algernon +Sidney and John Hampden--for trial by jury--the Habeas Corpus and Magna +Charta. + +But the English lawyers had decided that Parliament was omnipotent--and +Parliament, in its omnipotence, instead of trial by jury and the +Habeas Corpus, enacted admiralty courts in England to try Americans for +offences charged against them as committed in America; instead of +the privileges of Magna Charta, nullified the charter itself of +Massachusetts Bay; shut up the port of Boston; sent armies and navies to +keep the peace and teach the colonies that John Hampden was a rebel and +Algernon Sidney a traitor. + +English liberties had failed them. From the omnipotence of Parliament +the colonists appealed to the rights of man and the omnipotence of the +God of battles. Union! Union! was the instinctive and simultaneous +cry throughout the land. Their Congress, assembled at Philadelphia, +once--twice--had petitioned the king; had remonstrated to Parliament; +had addressed the people of Britain, for the rights of Englishmen--in +vain. Fleets and armies, the blood of Lexington, and the fires of +Charlestown and Falmouth, had been the answer to petition, remonstrance, +and address.... + +The dissolution of allegiance to the British crown, the severance of +the colonies from the British Empire, and their actual existence as +independent States, were definitively established in fact, by war and +peace. The independence of each separate State had never been declared +of right. It never existed in fact. Upon the principles of the +Declaration of Independence, the dissolution of the ties of allegiance, +the assumption of sovereign power, and the institution of civil +government, are all acts of transcendent authority, which the people +alone are competent to perform; and, accordingly, it is in the name and +by the authority of the people, that two of these acts--the dissolution +of allegiance, with the severance from the British Empire, and the +declaration of the United Colonies, as free and independent States--were +performed by that instrument. + +But there still remained the last and crowning act, which the people +of the Union alone were competent to perform--the institution of civil +government, for that compound nation, the United States of America. + +At this day it cannot but strike us as extraordinary, that it does not +appear to have occurred to any one member of that assembly, which had +laid down in terms so clear, so explicit, so unequivocal, the foundation +of all just government, in the imprescriptible rights of man, and the +transcendent sovereignty of the people, and who in those principles had +set forth their only personal vindication from the charges of rebellion +against their king, and of treason to their country, that their last +crowning act was still to be performed upon the same principles. That +is, the institution, by the people of the United States, of a civil +government, to guard and protect and defend them all. On the contrary, +that same assembly which issued the Declaration of Independence, instead +of continuing to act in the name and by the authority of the good people +of the United States, had, immediately after the appointment of the +committee to prepare the Declaration, appointed another committee, +of one member from each colony, to prepare and digest the form of +confederation to be entered into between the colonies. + +That committee reported on the twelfth of July, eight days after the +Declaration of Independence had been issued, a draft of articles of +confederation between the colonies. This draft was prepared by John +Dickinson, then a delegate from Pennsylvania, who voted against the +Declaration of Independence, and never signed it, having been superseded +by a new election of delegates from that State, eight days after his +draft was reported. + +There was thus no congeniality of principle between the Declaration of +Independence and the Articles of Confederation. The foundation of the +former was a superintending Providence--the rights of man, and the +constituent revolutionary power of the people. That of the latter was +the sovereignty of organized power, and the independence of the separate +or dis-united States. The fabric of the Declaration and that of the +Confederation were each consistent with its own foundation, but they +could not form one consistent, symmetrical edifice. They were the +productions of different minds and of adverse passions; one, ascending +for the foundation of human government to the laws of nature and of +God, written upon the heart of man; the other, resting upon the basis +of human institutions, and prescriptive law, and colonial charter. The +cornerstone of the one was right, that of the other was power.... + +Where, then, did each State get the sovereignty, freedom, and +independence, which the Articles of Confederation declare it +retains?--not from the whole people of the whole Union--not from the +Declaration of Independence--not from the people of the State itself. It +was assumed by agreement between the Legislatures of the several States, +and their delegates in Congress, without authority from or consultation +of the people at all. + +In the Declaration of Independence, the enacting and constituent party +dispensing and delegating sovereign power is the whole people of the +United Colonies. The recipient party, invested with power, is the United +Colonies, declared United States. + +In the Articles of Confederation, this order of agency is inverted. Each +State is the constituent and enacting party, and the United States in +Congress assembled the recipient of delegated power--and that power +delegated with such a penurious and carking hand that it had more +the aspect of a revocation of the Declaration of Independence than an +instrument to carry it into effect. + +None of these indispensably necessary powers were ever conferred by the +State Legislatures upon the Congress of the federation; and well was +it that they never were. The system itself was radically defective. Its +incurable disease was an apostasy from the principles of the Declaration +of Independence. A substitution of separate State sovereignties, in the +place of the constituent sovereignty of the people, was the basis of the +Confederate Union. + +In the Congress of the Confederation, the master minds of James Madison +and Alexander Hamilton were constantly engaged through the closing years +of the Revolutionary War and those of peace which immediately succeeded. +That of John Jay was associated with them shortly after the peace, +in the capacity of Secretary to the Congress for Foreign Affairs. The +incompetency of the Articles of Confederation for the management of the +affairs of the Union at home and abroad was demonstrated to them by the +painful and mortifying experience of every day. Washington, though +in retirement, was brooding over the cruel injustice suffered by his +associates in arms, the warriors of the Revolution; over the prostration +of the public credit and the faith of the nation, in the neglect to +provide for the payments even of the interest upon the public debt; over +the disappointed hopes of the friends of freedom; in the language of +the address from Congress to the States of the eighteenth of April, +1788--"the pride and boast of America, that the rights for which she +contended were the rights of human nature." + +At his residence at Mount Vernon, in March, 1785, the first idea +was started of a revisal of the Articles of Confederation, by the +organization, of means differing from that of a compact between the +State Legislatures and their own delegates in Congress. A convention +of delegates from the State Legislatures, independent of the Congress +itself, was the expedient which presented itself for effecting +the purpose, and an augmentation of the powers of Congress for the +regulation of commerce, as the object for which this assembly was to +be convened. In January, 1785, the proposal was made and adopted in +the Legislature of Virginia, and communicated to the other State +Legislatures. + +The Convention was held at Annapolis, in September of that year. It +was attended by delegates from only five of the central States, who, +on comparing their restricted powers with the glaring and universally +acknowledged defects of the Confederation, reported only a +recommendation for the assemblage of another convention of delegates +to meet at Philadelphia, in May, 1787, from all the States, and with +enlarged powers. + +The Constitution of the United States was the work of this Convention. +But in its construction the Convention immediately perceived that they +must retrace their steps, and fall back from a league of friendship +between sovereign States to the constituent sovereignty of the +people; from power to right--from the irresponsible despotism of +State sovereignty to the self-evident truths of the Declaration of +Independence. In that instrument, the right to institute and to alter +governments among men was ascribed exclusively to the people--the ends +of government were declared to be to secure the natural rights of man; +and that when the government degenerates from the promotion to the +destruction of that end, the right and the duty accrues to the people +to dissolve this degenerate government and to institute another. The +signers of the Declaration further averred, that the one people of the +United Colonies were then precisely in that situation--with a government +degenerated into tyranny, and called upon by the laws of nature and of +nature's God to dissolve that government and to institute another. Then, +in the name and by the authority of the good people of the colonies, +they pronounced the dissolution of their allegiance to the king, and +their eternal separation from the nation of Great Britain--and declared +the United Colonies independent States. And here as the representatives +of the one people they had stopped. They did not require the +confirmation of this act, for the power to make the declaration had +already been conferred upon them by the people, delegating the power, +indeed, separately in the separate colonies, not by colonial authority, +but by the spontaneous revolutionary movement of the people in them all. + +From the day of that Declaration, the constituent power of the people +had never been called into action. A confederacy had been substituted +in the place of a government, and State sovereignty had usurped the +constituent sovereignty of the people. + +The Convention assembled at Philadelphia had themselves no direct +authority from the people. Their authority was all derived from the +State Legislatures. But they had the Articles of Confederation before +them, and they saw and felt the wretched condition into which they had +brought the whole people, and that the Union itself was in the agonies +of death. They soon perceived that the indispensably needed powers +were such as no State government, no combination of them, was by the +principles of the Declaration of Independence competent to bestow. They +could emanate only from the people. A highly respectable portion of the +assembly, still clinging to the confederacy of States, proposed, as +a substitute for the Constitution, a mere revival of the Articles of +Confederation, with a grant of additional powers to the Congress. +Their plan was respectfully and thoroughly discussed, but the want of a +government and of the sanction of the people to the delegation of powers +happily prevailed. A constitution for the people, and the distribution +of legislative, executive, and judicial powers was prepared. It +announced itself as the work of the people themselves; and as this was +unquestionably a power assumed by the Convention, not delegated to +them by the people, they religiously confined it to a simple power +to propose, and carefully provided that it should be no more than a +proposal until sanctioned by the Confederation Congress, by the State +Legislatures, and by the people of the several States, in conventions +specially assembled, by authority of their Legislatures, for the single +purpose of examining and passing upon it. + +And thus was consummated the work commenced by the Declaration of +Independence--a work in which the people of the North American Union, +acting under the deepest sense of responsibility to the Supreme Ruler +of the universe, had achieved the most transcendent act of power that +social man in his mortal condition can perform--even that of dissolving +the ties of allegiance by which he is bound to his country; of +renouncing that country itself; of demolishing its government; of +instituting another government; and of making for himself another +country in its stead. + +And on that day, of which you now commemorate the fiftieth +anniversary--on that thirtieth day of April, 1789--was this mighty +revolution, not only in the affairs of our own country, but in the +principles of government over civilized man, accomplished. + +The Revolution itself was a work of thirteen years--and had never +been completed until that day. The Declaration of Independence and the +Constitution of the United States are parts of one consistent whole, +founded upon one and the same theory of government, then new in +practice, though not as a theory, for it had been working itself into +the mind of man for many ages, and had been especially expounded in the +writings of Locke, though it had never before been adopted by a great +nation in practice. + +There are yet, even at this day, many speculative objections to this +theory. Even in our own country there are still philosophers who deny +the principles asserted in the Declaration, as self-evident truths--who +deny the natural equality and inalienable rights of man--who deny that +the people are the only legitimate source of power--who deny that all +just powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed. +Neither your time, nor perhaps the cheerful nature of this occasion, +permit me here to enter upon the examination of this anti-revolutionary +theory, which arrays State sovereignty against the constituent +sovereignty of the people, and distorts the Constitution of the United +States into a league of friendship between confederate corporations. I +speak to matters of fact. There is the Declaration of Independence, +and there is the Constitution of the United States--let them speak for +themselves. The grossly immoral and dishonest doctrine of despotic State +sovereignty, the exclusive judge of its own obligations, and responsible +to no power on earth or in heaven, for the violation of them, is not +there. The Declaration says, it is not in me. The Constitution says, it +is not in me. + + + +"Oration at Plymouth, December 22, 1802, in Commemoration of the Landing +of the Pilgrims." + + +Among the sentiments of most powerful operation upon the human +heart, and most highly honorable to the human character, are those of +veneration for our forefathers, and of love for our posterity. They form +the connecting links between the selfish and the social passions. By the +fundamental principle of Christianity, the happiness of the individual +is interwoven, by innumerable and imperceptible ties, with that of his +contemporaries. By the power of filial reverence and parental affection, +individual existence is extended beyond the limits of individual life, +and the happiness of every age is chained in mutual dependence upon that +of every other. Respect for his ancestors excites, in the breast of man, +interest in their history, attachment to their characters, concern for +their errors, involuntary pride in their virtues. Love for his posterity +spurs him to exertion for their support, stimulates him to virtue for +their example, and fills him with the tenderest solicitude for their +welfare. Man, therefore, was not made for himself alone. No, he was made +for his country, by the obligations of the social compact; he was made +for his species, by the Christian duties of universal charity; he +was made for all ages past, by the sentiment of reverence for his +forefathers; and he was made for all future times, by the impulse of +affection for his progeny. Under the influence of these principles, + + "Existence sees him spurn her bounded reign." + +They redeem his nature from the subjection of time and space; he is +no longer a "puny insect shivering at a breeze"; he is the glory of +creation, formed to occupy all time and all extent; bounded, during his +residence upon earth, only to the boundaries of the world, and destined +to life and immortality in brighter regions, when the fabric of nature +itself shall dissolve and perish. + +The voice of history has not, in all its compass, a note but answers in +unison with these sentiments. The barbarian chieftain, who defended his +country against the Roman invasion, driven to the remotest extremity of +Britain, and stimulating his followers to battle by all that has power +of persuasion upon the human heart, concluded his persuasion by an +appeal to these irresistible feelings: "Think of your forefathers and of +your posterity." The Romans themselves, at the pinnacle of civilization, +were actuated by the same impressions, and celebrated, in anniversary +festivals, every great event which had signalized the annals of their +forefathers. To multiply instances where it were impossible to adduce +an exception would be to waste your time and abuse your patience; but +in the sacred volume, which contains the substances of our firmest faith +and of our most precious hopes, these passions not only maintain their +highest efficacy, but are sanctioned by the express injunctions of the +Divine Legislator to his chosen people. + +The revolutions of time furnish no previous example of a nation shooting +up to maturity and expanding into greatness with the rapidity which has +characterized the growth of the American people. In the luxuriance of +youth, and in the vigor of manhood, it is pleasing and instructive to +look backward upon the helpless days of infancy; but in the continual +and essential changes of a growing subject, the transactions of that +early period would be soon obliterated from the memory but for some +periodical call of attention to aid the silent records of the historian. +Such celebrations arouse and gratify the kindliest emotions of the +bosom. They are faithful pledges of the respect we bear to the memory +of our ancestors and of the tenderness with which we cherish the rising +generation. They introduce the sages and heroes of ages past to the +notice and emulation of succeeding times; they are at once testimonials +of our gratitude, and schools of virtue to our children. + +These sentiments are wise; they are honorable; they are virtuous; their +cultivation is not merely innocent pleasure, it is incumbent duty. +Obedient to their dictates, you, my fellow-citizens, have instituted +and paid frequent observance to this annual solemnity, and what event of +weightier intrinsic importance, or of more extensive consequences, was +ever selected for this honorary distinction? + +In reverting to the period of our origin, other nations have generally +been compelled to plunge into the chaos of impenetrable antiquity, or to +trace a lawless ancestry into the caverns of ravishers and robbers. +It is your peculiar privilege to commemorate, in this birthday of your +nation, an event ascertained in its minutest details; an event of which +the principal actors are known to you familiarly, as if belonging to +your own age; an event of a magnitude before which imagination shrinks +at the imperfection of her powers. It is your further happiness to +behold, in those eminent characters, who were most conspicuous in +accomplishing the settlement of your country, men upon whose virtue +you can dwell with honest exultation. The founders of your race are +not handed down to you, like the fathers of the Roman people, as the +sucklings of a wolf. You are not descended from a nauseous compound of +fanaticism and sensuality, whose only argument was the sword, and whose +only paradise was a brothel. No Gothic scourge of God, no Vandal pest of +nations, no fabled fugitive from the flames of Troy, no bastard Norman +tyrant, appears among the list of worthies who first landed on the +rock, which your veneration has preserved as a lasting monument of +their achievement. The great actors of the day we now solemnize were +illustrious by their intrepid valor no less than by their Christian +graces, but the clarion of conquest has not blazoned forth their names +to all the winds of heaven. Their glory has not been wafted over oceans +of blood to the remotest regions of the earth. They have not erected to +themselves colossal statues upon pedestals of human bones, to provoke +and insult the tardy hand of heavenly retribution. But theirs was "the +better fortitude of patience and heroic martyrdom." Theirs was the +gentle temper of Christian kindness; the rigorous observance of +reciprocal justice; the unconquerable soul of conscious integrity. +Worldly fame has been parsimonious of her favor to the memory of those +generous companions. Their numbers were small; their stations in life +obscure; the object of their enterprise unostentatious; the theatre of +their exploits remote; how could they possibly be favorites of worldly +Fame--that common crier, whose existence is only known by the assemblage +of multitudes; that pander of wealth and greatness, so eager to haunt +the palaces of fortune, and so fastidious to the houseless dignity of +virtue; that parasite of pride, ever scornful to meekness, and ever +obsequious to insolent power; that heedless trumpeter, whose ears are +deaf to modest merit, and whose eyes are blind to bloodless, distant +excellence? + +When the persecuted companions of Robinson, exiles from their native +land, anxiously sued for the privilege of removing a thousand leagues +more distant to an untried soil, a rigorous climate, and a savage +wilderness, for the sake of reconciling their sense of religious duty +with their affections for their country, few, perhaps none of them, +formed a conception of what would be, within two centuries, the result +of their undertaking. When the jealous and niggardly policy of their +British sovereign denied them even that humblest of requests, and +instead of liberty would barely consent to promise connivance, neither +he nor they might be aware that they were laying the foundations of a +power, and that he was sowing the seeds of a spirit, which, in less +than two hundred years, would stagger the throne of his descendants, and +shake his united kingdoms to the centre. So far is it from the ordinary +habits of mankind to calculate the importance of events in their +elementary principles, that had the first colonists of our country ever +intimated as a part of their designs the project of founding a great and +mighty nation, the finger of scorn would have pointed them to the cells +of Bedlam as an abode more suitable for hatching vain empires than the +solitude of a transatlantic desert. + +These consequences, then so little foreseen, have unfolded themselves, +in all their grandeur, to the eyes of the present age. It is a common +amusement of speculative minds to contrast the magnitude of the most +important events with the minuteness of their primeval causes, and the +records of mankind are full of examples for such contemplations. It +is, however, a more profitable employment to trace the constituent +principles of future greatness in their kernel; to detect in the acorn +at our feet the germ of that majestic oak, whose roots shoot down to +the centre, and whose branches aspire to the skies. Let it be, then, our +present occupation to inquire and endeavor to ascertain the causes +first put in operation at the period of our commemoration, and already +productive of such magnificent effects; to examine with reiterated care +and minute attention the characters of those men who gave the first +impulse to a new series of events in the history of the world; to +applaud and emulate those qualities of their minds which we shall find +deserving of our admiration; to recognize with candor those features +which forbid approbation or even require censure, and, finally, to lay +alike their frailties and their perfections to our own hearts, either as +warning or as example. + + + Of the various European settlements upon this continent, +which have finally merged in one independent nation, the first +establishments were made at various times, by several nations, and under +the influence of different motives. In many instances, the conviction +of religious obligation formed one and a powerful inducement of the +adventures; but in none, excepting the settlement at Plymouth, did they +constitute the sole and exclusive actuating cause. Worldly interest and +commercial speculation entered largely into the views of other settlers, +but the commands of conscience were the only stimulus to the emigrants +from Leyden. Previous to their expedition hither, they had endured +a long banishment from their native country. Under every species of +discouragement, they undertook the voyage; they performed it in spite +of numerous and almost insuperable obstacles; they arrived upon a +wilderness bound with frost and hoary with snow, without the boundaries +of their charter, outcasts from all human society, and coasted five +weeks together, in the dead of winter, on this tempestuous shore, +exposed at once to the fury of the elements, to the arrows of the native +savage, and to the impending horrors of famine. + +Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which +difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. These qualities +have ever been displayed in their mightiest perfection, as attendants in +the retinue of strong passions. From the first discovery of the +Western Hemisphere by Columbus until the settlement of Virginia which +immediately preceded that of Plymouth, the various adventurers from the +ancient world had exhibited upon innumerable occasions that ardor of +enterprise and that stubbornness of pursuit which set all danger at +defiance, and chained the violence of nature at their feet. But they +were all instigated by personal interests. Avarice and ambition had +tuned their souls to that pitch of exaltation. Selfish passions were the +parents of their heroism. It was reserved for the first settlers of +new England to perform achievements equally arduous, to trample down +obstructions equally formidable, to dispel dangers equally terrific, +under the single inspiration of conscience. To them even liberty +herself was but a subordinate and secondary consideration. They claimed +exemption from the mandates of human authority, as militating with their +subjection to a superior power. Before the voice of Heaven they silenced +even the calls of their country. + +Yet, while so deeply impressed with the sense of religious obligation, +they felt, in all its energy, the force of that tender tie which binds +the heart of every virtuous man to his native land. It was to renew that +connection with their country which had been severed by their compulsory +expatriation, that they resolved to face all the hazards of a perilous +navigation and all the labors of a toilsome distant settlement. Under +the mild protection of the Batavian Government, they enjoyed already +that freedom of religious worship, for which they had resigned so +many comforts and enjoyments at home; but their hearts panted for a +restoration to the bosom of their country. Invited and urged by the +open-hearted and truly benevolent people who had given them an asylum +from the persecution of their own kindred to form their settlement +within the territories then under their jurisdiction, the love of their +country predominated over every influence save that of conscience alone, +and they preferred the precarious chance of relaxation from the bigoted +rigor of the English Government to the certain liberality and alluring +offers of the Hollanders. Observe, my countrymen, the generous +patriotism, the cordial union of soul, the conscious yet unaffected +vigor which beam in their application to the British monarch: + +"They were well weaned from the delicate milk of their mother country, +and inured to the difficulties of a strange land. They were knit +together in a strict and sacred bond, to take care of the good of each +other and of the whole. It was not with them as with other men, whom +small things could discourage, or small discontents cause to wish +themselves again at home." + +Children of these exalted Pilgrims! Is there one among you who can hear +the simple and pathetic energy of these expressions without tenderness +and admiration? Venerated shades of our forefathers! No, ye were, +indeed, not ordinary men! That country which had ejected you so cruelly +from her bosom you still delighted to contemplate in the character of an +affectionate and beloved mother. The sacred bond which knit you together +was indissoluble while you lived; and oh, may it be to your descendants +the example and the pledge of harmony to the latest period of time! +The difficulties and dangers, which so often had defeated attempts of +similar establishments, were unable to subdue souls tempered like yours. +You heard the rigid interdictions; you saw the menacing forms of toil +and danger, forbidding your access to this land of promise; but you +heard without dismay; you saw and disdained retreat. Firm and undaunted +in the confidence of that sacred bond; conscious of the purity, and +convinced of the importance of your motives, you put your trust in the +protecting shield of Providence, and smiled defiance at the combining +terrors of human malice and of elemental strife. These, in the +accomplishment of your undertaking, you were summoned to encounter +in their most hideous forms; these you met with that fortitude, and +combated with that perseverance, which you had promised in their +anticipation; these you completely vanquished in establishing the +foundations of New England, and the day which we now commemorate is the +perpetual memorial of your triumph. + + It were an occupation peculiarly pleasing to cull from our +early historians, and exhibit before you every detail of this +transaction; to carry you in imagination on board their bark at the +first moment of her arrival in the bay; to accompany Carver, Winslow, +Bradford, and Standish, in all their excursions upon the desolate coast; +to follow them into every rivulet and creek where they endeavored to +find a firm footing, and to fix, with a pause of delight and exultation, +the instant when the first of these heroic adventurers alighted on the +spot where you, their descendants, now enjoy the glorious and happy +reward of their labors. But in this grateful task, your former orators, +on this anniversary, have anticipated all that the most ardent industry +could collect, and gratified all that the most inquisitive curiosity +could desire. To you, my friends, every occurrence of that momentous +period is already familiar. A transient allusion to a few characteristic +instances, which mark the peculiar history of the Plymouth settlers, may +properly supply the place of a narrative, which, to this auditory, must +be superfluous. + +One of these remarkable incidents is the execution of that instrument of +government by which they formed themselves into a body politic, the day +after their arrival upon the coast, and previous to their first landing. +That is, perhaps, the only instance in human history of that positive, +original social compact, which speculative philosophers have imagined +as the only legitimate source of government. Here was a unanimous +and personal assent, by all the individuals of the community, to +the association by which they became a nation. It was the result of +circumstances and discussions which had occurred during their passage +from Europe, and is a full demonstration that the nature of civil +government, abstracted from the political institutions of their native +country, had been an object of their serious meditation. The settlers +of all the former European colonies had contented themselves with the +powers conferred upon them by their respective charters, without looking +beyond the seal of the royal parchment for the measure of their rights +and the rule of their duties. The founders of Plymouth had been impelled +by the peculiarities of their situation to examine the subject with +deeper and more comprehensive research. After twelve years of banishment +from the land of their first allegiance, during which they had been +under an adoptive and temporary subjection to another sovereign, they +must naturally have been led to reflect upon the relative rights and +duties of allegiance and subjection. They had resided in a city, the +seat of a university, where the polemical and political controversies +of the time were pursued with uncommon fervor. In this period they had +witnessed the deadly struggle between the two parties, into which the +people of the United Provinces, after their separation from the crown of +Spain, had divided themselves. The contest embraced within its compass +not only theological doctrines, but political principles, and Maurice +and Barnevelt were the temporal leaders of the same rival factions, of +which Episcopius and Polyander were the ecclesiastical champions. + +That the investigation of the fundamental principles of government was +deeply implicated in these dissensions is evident from the immortal +work of Grotius, upon the rights of war and peace, which undoubtedly +originated from them. Grotius himself had been a most distinguished +actor and sufferer in those important scenes of internal convulsion, +and his work was first published very shortly after the departure of +our forefathers from Leyden. It is well known that in the course of the +contest Mr. Robinson more than once appeared, with credit to himself, as +a public disputant against Episcopius; and from the manner in which +the fact is related by Governor Bradford, it is apparent that the whole +English Church at Leyden took a zealous interest in the religious part +of the controversy. As strangers in the land, it is presumable that +they wisely and honorably avoided entangling themselves in the political +contentions involved with it. Yet the theoretic principles, as they were +drawn into discussion, could not fail to arrest their attention, and +must have assisted them to form accurate ideas concerning the origin and +extent of authority among men, independent of positive institutions. +The importance of these circumstances will not be duly weighed without +taking into consideration the state of opinion then prevalent in +England. The general principles of government were there little +understood and less examined. The whole substance of human authority was +centred in the simple doctrine of royal prerogative, the origin of which +was always traced in theory to divine institution. Twenty years later, +the subject was more industriously sifted, and for half a century became +one of the principal topics of controversy between the ablest and most +enlightened men in the nation. The instrument of voluntary association +executed on board the "Mayflower" testifies that the parties to it had +anticipated the improvement of their nation. + +Another incident, from which we may derive occasion for important +reflections, was the attempt of these original settlers to establish +among them that community of goods and of labor, which fanciful +politicians, from the days of Plato to those of Rousseau, have +recommended as the fundamental law of a perfect republic. This theory +results, it must be acknowledged, from principles of reasoning +most flattering to the human character. If industry, frugality, and +disinterested integrity were alike the virtues of all, there would, +apparently, be more of the social spirit, in making all property a +common stock, and giving to each individual a proportional title to the +wealth of the whole. Such is the basis upon which Plato forbids, in +his Republic, the division of property. Such is the system upon which +Rousseau pronounces the first man who inclosed a field with a fence, and +said, "This is mine," a traitor to the human species. A wiser and more +useful philosophy, however, directs us to consider man according to the +nature in which he was formed; subject to infirmities, which no wisdom +can remedy; to weaknesses, which no institution can strengthen; to +vices, which no legislation can correct. Hence, it becomes obvious that +separate property is the natural and indisputable right of separate +exertion; that community of goods without community of toil is +oppressive and unjust; that it counteracts the laws of nature, which +prescribe that he only who sows the seed shall reap the harvest; that +it discourages all energy, by destroying its rewards; and makes the most +virtuous and active members of society the slaves and drudges of the +worst. Such was the issue of this experiment among our forefathers, +and the same event demonstrated the error of the system in the elder +settlement of Virginia. Let us cherish that spirit of harmony which +prompted our forefathers to make the attempt, under circumstances more +favorable to its success than, perhaps, ever occurred upon earth. Let +us no less admire the candor with which they relinquished it, upon +discovering its irremediable inefficacy. To found principles of +government upon too advantageous an estimate of the human character is +an error of inexperience, the source of which is so amiable that it is +impossible to censure it with severity. We have seen the same mistake +committed in our own age, and upon a larger theatre. Happily for our +ancestors, their situation allowed them to repair it before its effects +had proved destructive. They had no pride of vain philosophy to support, +no perfidious rage of faction to glut, by persevering in their mistakes +until they should be extinguished in torrents of blood. + +As the attempt to establish among themselves the community of goods was +a seal of that sacred bond which knit them so closely together, so the +conduct they observed toward the natives of the country displays +their steadfast adherence to the rules of justice and their faithful +attachment to those of benevolence and charity. + +No European settlement ever formed upon this continent has been more +distinguished for undeviating kindness and equity toward the savages. +There are, indeed, moralists who have questioned the right of the +Europeans to intrude upon the possessions of the aboriginals in any +case, and under any limitations whatsoever. But have they maturely +considered the whole subject? The Indian right of possession itself +stands, with regard to the greater part of the country, upon a +questionable foundation. Their cultivated fields; their constructed +habitations; a space of ample sufficiency for their subsistence, +and whatever they had annexed to themselves by personal labor, was +undoubtedly, by the laws of nature, theirs. But what is the right of +a huntsman to the forest of a thousand miles over which he has +accidentally ranged in quest of prey? Shall the liberal bounties of +Providence to the race of man be monopolized by one of ten thousand for +whom they were created? Shall the exuberant bosom of the common mother, +amply adequate to the nourishment of millions, be claimed exclusively +by a few hundreds of her offspring? Shall the lordly savage not only +disdain the virtues and enjoyments of civilization himself, but shall he +control the civilization of a world? Shall he forbid the wilderness +to blossom like a rose? Shall he forbid the oaks of the forest to fall +before the axe of industry, and to rise again, transformed into the +habitations of ease and elegance? shall he doom an immense region of the +globe to perpetual desolation, and to hear the howlings of the tiger and +the wolf silence forever the voice of human gladness? Shall the fields +and the valleys, which a beneficent God has formed to teem with the life +of innumerable multitudes, be condemned to everlasting barrenness? Shall +the mighty rivers, poured out by the hand of nature, as channels of +communication between numerous nations, roll their waters in sullen +silence and eternal solitude of the deep? Have hundreds of commodious +harbors, a thousand leagues of coast, and a boundless ocean, been spread +in the front of this land, and shall every purpose of utility to which +they could apply be prohibited by the tenant of the woods? No, generous +philanthropists! Heaven has not been thus inconsistent in the works of +its hands. Heaven has not thus placed at irreconcilable strife its moral +laws with its physical creation. The Pilgrims of Plymouth obtained their +right of possession to the territory on which they settled, by titles +as fair and unequivocal as any human property can be held. By their +voluntary association they recognized their allegiance to the government +of Britain, and in process of time received whatever powers and +authorities could be conferred upon them by a charter from their +sovereign. The spot on which they fixed had belonged to an Indian tribe, +totally extirpated by that devouring pestilence which had swept the +country shortly before their arrival. The territory, thus free from +all exclusive possession, they might have taken by the natural right +of occupancy. Desirous, however, of giving amply satisfaction to every +pretence of prior right, by formal and solemn conventions with the +chiefs of the neighboring tribes, they acquired the further security of +a purchase. At their hands the children of the desert had no cause +of complaint. On the great day of retribution, what thousands, what +millions of the American race will appear at the bar of judgment to +arraign their European invading conquerors! Let us humbly hope that +the fathers of the Plymouth Colony will then appear in the whiteness of +innocence. Let us indulge in the belief that they will not only be free +from all accusation of injustice to these unfortunate sons of nature, +but that the testimonials of their acts of kindness and benevolence +toward them will plead the cause of their virtues, as they are now +authenticated by the record of history upon earth. + +Religious discord has lost her sting; the cumbrous weapons of +theological warfare are antiquated; the field of politics supplies the +alchemists of our times with materials of more fatal explosion, and the +butchers of mankind no longer travel to another world for instruments +of cruelty and destruction. Our age is too enlightened to contend upon +topics which concern only the interests of eternity; the men who hold in +proper contempt all controversies about trifles, except such as inflame +their own passions, have made it a commonplace censure against your +ancestors, that their zeal was enkindled by subjects of trivial +importance; and that however aggrieved by the intolerance of others, +they were alike intolerant themselves. Against these objections, your +candid judgment will not require an unqualified justification; but your +respect and gratitude for the founders of the State may boldly claim an +ample apology. The original grounds of their separation from the Church +of England were not objects of a magnitude to dissolve the bonds of +communion, much less those of charity, between Christian brethren of +the same essential principles. Some of them, however, were not +inconsiderable, and numerous inducements concurred to give them an +extraordinary interest in their eyes. When that portentous system of +abuses, the Papal dominion, was overturned, a great variety of religious +sects arose in its stead in the several countries, which for many +centuries before had been screwed beneath its subjection. The fabric of +the Reformation, first undertaken in England upon a contracted basis, by +a capricious and sanguinary tyrant, had been successively overthrown +and restored, renewed and altered, according to the varying humors and +principles of four successive monarchs. To ascertain the precise point +of division between the genuine institutions of Christianity and the +corruptions accumulated upon them in the progress of fifteen centuries, +was found a task of extreme difficulty throughout the Christian world. + +Men of the profoundest learning, of the sublimest genius, and of the +purest integrity, after devoting their lives to the research, finally +differed in their ideas upon many great points, both of doctrine and +discipline. The main question, it was admitted on all hands, most +intimately concerned the highest interests of man, both temporal and +eternal. Can we wonder that men who felt their happiness here and their +hopes of hereafter, their worldly welfare and the kingdom of heaven +at stake, should sometimes attach an importance beyond their intrinsic +weight to collateral points of controversy, connected with the +all-involving object of the Reformation? The changes in the forms and +principles of religious worship were introduced and regulated in England +by the hand of public authority. But that hand had not been uniform +or steady in its operations. During the persecutions inflicted in the +interval of Popish restoration under the reign of Mary, upon all who +favored the Reformation, many of the most zealous reformers had been +compelled to fly their country. While residing on the continent of +Europe, they had adopted the principles of the most complete and +rigorous reformation, as taught and established by Calvin. On returning +afterward to their native country, they were dissatisfied with +the partial reformation, at which, as they conceived, the English +establishment had rested; and claiming the privilege of private +conscience, upon which alone any departure from the Church of Rome could +be justified, they insisted upon the right of adhering to the system of +their own preference, and, of course, upon that of non-conformity to the +establishment prescribed by the royal authority. The only means used +to convince them of error and reclaim them from dissent was force, and +force served but to confirm the opposition it was meant to suppress. By +driving the founders of the Plymouth Colony into exile, it constrained +them to absolute separation irreconcilable. Viewing their religious +liberties here, as held only by sufferance, yet bound to them by all +the ties of conviction, and by all their sufferings for them, could they +forbear to look upon every dissenter among themselves with a jealous +eye? Within two years after their landing, they beheld a rival +settlement attempted in their immediate neighborhood; and not long +after, the laws of self-preservation compelled them to break up a nest +of revellers, who boasted of protection from the mother country, and who +had recurred to the easy but pernicious resource of feeding their wanton +idleness, by furnishing the savages with the means, the skill, and the +instruments of European destruction. Toleration, in that instance, would +have been self-murder, and many other examples might be alleged, in +which their necessary measures of self-defence have been exaggerated +into cruelty, and their most indispensable precautions distorted into +persecution. Yet shall we not pretend that they were exempt from the +common laws of mortality, or entirely free from all the errors of +their age. Their zeal might sometimes be too ardent, but it was always +sincere. At this day, religious indulgence is one of our clearest +duties, because it is one of our undisputed rights. While we rejoice +that the principles of genuine Christianity have so far triumphed over +the prejudices of a former generation, let us fervently hope for the day +when it will prove equally victorious over the malignant passions of our +own. + +In thus calling your attention to some of the peculiar features in the +principles, the character, and the history of our forefathers, it is +as wide from my design, as I know it would be from your approbation, to +adorn their memory with a chaplet plucked from the domain of others. +The occasion and the day are more peculiarly devoted to them, and let +it never be dishonored with a contracted and exclusive spirit. Our +affections as citizens embrace the whole extent of the Union, and the +names of Raleigh, Smith, Winthrop, Calvert, Penn and Oglethorpe excite +in our minds recollections equally pleasing and gratitude equally +fervent with those of Carver and Bradford. Two centuries have not +yet elapsed since the first European foot touched the soil which now +constitutes the American Union. Two centuries more and our numbers must +exceed those of Europe itself. The destinies of their empire, as they +appear in prospect before us, disdain the powers of human calculation. +Yet, as the original founder of the Roman State is said once to have +lifted upon his shoulders the fame and fortunes of all his posterity, so +let us never forget that the glory and greatness of all our descendants +is in our hands. Preserve in all their purity, refine, if possible, +from all their alloy, those virtues which we this day commemorate as the +ornament of our forefathers. Adhere to them with inflexible resolution, +as to the horns of the altar; instil them with unwearied perseverance +into the minds of your children; bind your souls and theirs to the +national Union as the chords of life are centred in the heart, and you +shall soar with rapid and steady wing to the summit of human glory. +Nearly a century ago, one of those rare minds to whom it is given to +discern future greatness in its seminal principles, upon contemplating +the situation of this continent, pronounced, in a vein of poetic +inspiration, "Westward the star of empire takes its way." Let us unite +in ardent supplication to the Founder of nations and the Builder +of worlds, that what then was prophecy may continue unfolding +into history--that the dearest hopes of the human race may not be +extinguished in disappointment, and that the last may prove the noblest +empire of time. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Orations, by John Quincy Adams + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ORATIONS *** + +***** This file should be named 896.txt or 896.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/9/896/ + +Produced by Anthony J. Adam + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Adam +email: anthony-adam@tamu.edu + + + + +John Quincy Adams, "Orations" + + + +"The Jubilee of the Constitution, delivered at New York, +April 30, 1839, before the New York Historical Society." + + + +Fellow-Citizens and Brethren, Associates of the New York +Historical Society: + +Would it be an unlicensed trespass of the imagination to +conceive that on the night preceding the day of which you now +commemorate the fiftieth anniversary--on the night preceding +that thirtieth of April, 1789, when from the balcony of your city +hall the chancellor of the State of New York administered to +George Washington the solemn oath faithfully to execute the +office of President of the United States, and to the best of his +ability to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the +United States--that in the visions of the night the guardian +angel of the Father of our Country had appeared before him, in +the venerated form of his mother, and, to cheer and encourage +him in the performance of the momentous and solemn duties +that he was about to assume, had delivered to him a suit of +celestial armor--a helmet, consisting of the principles of piety, +of justice, of honor, of benevolence, with which from his +earliest infancy he had hitherto walked through life, in the +presence of all his brethren; a spear, studded with the self- +evident truths of the Declaration of Independence; a sword, the +same with which he had led the armies of his country through +the war of freedom to the summit of the triumphal arch of +independence; a corselet and cuishes of long experience and +habitual intercourse in peace and war with the world of +mankind, his contemporaries of the human race, in all their +stages of civilization; and, last of all, the Constitution of the +United States, a shield, embossed by heavenly hands with the +future history of his country? + +Yes, gentlemen, on that shield the Constitution of the United +States was sculptured (by forms unseen, and in characters then +invisible to mortal eye), the predestined and prophetic history +of the one confederated people of the North American Union. + +They had been the settlers of thirteen separate and distinct +English colonies, along the margin of the shore of the North +American Continent; contiguously situated, but chartered by +adventurers of characters variously diversified, including +sectarians, religious and political, of all the classes which for +the two preceding centuries had agitated and divided the people +of the British islands--and with them were intermingled the +descendants of Hollanders, Swedes, Germans, and French +fugitives from the persecution of the revoker of the Edict of +Nantes. + +In the bosoms of this people, thus heterogeneously composed, +there was burning, kindled at different furnaces, but all +furnaces of affliction, one clear, steady flame of liberty. Bold +and daring enterprise, stubborn endurance of privation, +unflinching intrepidity in facing danger, and inflexible +adherence to conscientious principle, had steeled to energetic +and unyielding hardihood the characters of the primitive +settlers of all these colonies. Since that time two or three +generations of men had passed away, but they had increased +and multiplied with unexampled rapidity; and the land itself +had been the recent theatre of a ferocious and bloody seven +years' war between the two most powerful and most civilized +nations of Europe contending for the possession of this +continent. + +Of that strife the victorious combatant had been Britain. She +had conquered the provinces of France. She had expelled her +rival totally from the continent, over which, bounding herself +by the Mississippi, she was thenceforth to hold divided empire +only with Spain. She had acquired undisputed control over the +Indian tribes still tenanting the forests unexplored by the +European man. She had established an uncontested monopoly +of the commerce of all her colonies. But forgetting all the +warnings of preceding ages--forgetting the lessons written in +the blood of her own children, through centuries of departed +time--she undertook to tax the people of the colonies without +their consent. + +Resistance, instantaneous, unconcerted, sympathetic, +inflexible resistance, like an electric shock, startled and roused +the people of all the English colonies on this continent. + +This was the first signal of the North American Union. The +struggle was for chartered rights--for English liberties--for the +cause of Algernon Sidney and John Hampden--for trial by jury- +-the Habeas Corpus and Magna Charta. + +But the English lawyers had decided that Parliament was +omnipotent--and Parliament, in its omnipotence, instead of trial +by jury and the Habeas Corpus, enacted admiralty courts in +England to try Americans for offences charged against them as +committed in America; instead of the privileges of Magna +Charta, nullified the charter itself of Massachusetts Bay; shut +up the port of Boston; sent armies and navies to keep the peace +and teach the colonies that John Hampden was a rebel and +Algernon Sidney a traitor. + +English liberties had failed them. From the omnipotence of +Parliament the colonists appealed to the rights of man and the +omnipotence of the God of battles. Union! Union! was the +instinctive and simultaneous cry throughout the land. Their +Congress, assembled at Philadelphia, once--twice--had +petitioned the king; had remonstrated to Parliament; had +addressed the people of Britain, for the rights of Englishmen-- +in vain. Fleets and armies, the blood of Lexington, and the +fires of Charlestown and Falmouth, had been the answer to +petition, remonstrance, and address.... + +The dissolution of allegiance to the British crown, the +severance of the colonies from the British Empire, and their +actual existence as independent States, were definitively +established in fact, by war and peace. The independence of +each separate State had never been declared of right. It never +existed in fact. Upon the principles of the Declaration of +Independence, the dissolution of the ties of allegiance, the +assumption of sovereign power, and the institution of civil +government, are all acts of transcendent authority, which the +people alone are competent to perform; and, accordingly, it is in +the name and by the authority of the people, that two of these +acts--the dissolution of allegiance, with the severance from the +British Empire, and the declaration of the United Colonies, as +free and independent States--were performed by that +instrument. + +But there still remained the last and crowning act, which the +people of the Union alone were competent to perform--the +institution of civil government, for that compound nation, the +United States of America. + +At this day it cannot but strike us as extraordinary, that it +does not appear to have occurred to any one member of that +assembly, which had laid down in terms so clear, so explicit, so +unequivocal, the foundation of all just government, in the +imprescriptible rights of man, and the transcendent sovereignty +of the people, and who in those principles had set forth their +only personal vindication from the charges of rebellion against +their king, and of treason to their country, that their last +crowning act was still to be performed upon the same +principles. That is, the institution, by the people of the United +States, of a civil government, to guard and protect and defend +them all. On the contrary, that same assembly which issued +the Declaration of Independence, instead of continuing to act in +the name and by the authority of the good people of the United +States, had, immediately after the appointment of the +committee to prepare the Declaration, appointed another +committee, of one member from each colony, to prepare and +digest the form of confederation to be entered into between the +colonies. + +That committee reported on the twelfth of July, eight days +after the Declaration of Independence had been issued, a draft +of articles of confederation between the colonies. This draft +was prepared by John Dickinson, then a delegate from +Pennsylvania, who voted against the Declaration of +Independence, and never signed it, having been superseded by +a new election of delegates from that State, eight days after his +draft was reported. + +There was thus no congeniality of principle between the +Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. +The foundation of the former was a superintending Providence- +-the rights of man, and the constituent revolutionary power of +the people. That of the latter was the sovereignty of organized +power, and the independence of the separate or dis-united +States. The fabric of the Declaration and that of the +Confederation were each consistent with its own foundation, +but they could not form one consistent, symmetrical edifice. +They were the productions of different minds and of adverse +passions; one, ascending for the foundation of human +government to the laws of nature and of God, written upon the +heart of man; the other, resting upon the basis of human +institutions, and prescriptive law, and colonial charter. The +cornerstone of the one was right, that of the other was power.... + +Where, then, did each State get the sovereignty, freedom, and +independence, which the Articles of Confederation declare it +retains?--not from the whole people of the whole Union--not +from the Declaration of Independence--not from the people of +the State itself. It was assumed by agreement between the +Legislatures of the several States, and their delegates in +Congress, without authority from or consultation of the people +at all. + +In the Declaration of Independence, the enacting and +constituent party dispensing and delegating sovereign power is +the whole people of the United Colonies. The recipient party, +invested with power, is the United Colonies, declared United +States. + +In the Articles of Confederation, this order of agency is +inverted. Each State is the constituent and enacting party, and +the United States in Congress assembled the recipient of +delegated power--and that power delegated with such a +penurious and carking hand that it had more the aspect of a +revocation of the Declaration of Independence than an +instrument to carry it into effect. + +None of these indispensably necessary powers were ever +conferred by the State Legislatures upon the Congress of the +federation; and well was it that they never were. The system +itself was radically defective. Its incurable disease was an +apostasy from the principles of the Declaration of +Independence. A substitution of separate State sovereignties, +in the place of the constituent sovereignty of the people, was +the basis of the Confederate Union. + +In the Congress of the Confederation, the master minds of +James Madison and Alexander Hamilton were constantly +engaged through the closing years of the Revolutionary War +and those of peace which immediately succeeded. That of John +Jay was associated with them shortly after the peace, in the +capacity of Secretary to the Congress for Foreign Affairs. The +incompetency of the Articles of Confederation for the +management of the affairs of the Union at home and abroad +was demonstrated to them by the painful and mortifying +experience of every day. Washington, though in retirement, +was brooding over the cruel injustice suffered by his associates +in arms, the warriors of the Revolution; over the prostration of +the public credit and the faith of the nation, in the neglect to +provide for the payments even of the interest upon the public +debt; over the disappointed hopes of the friends of freedom; in +the language of the address from Congress to the States of the +eighteenth of April, 1788--"the pride and boast of America, that +the rights for which she contended were the rights of human +nature." + +At his residence at Mount Vernon, in March, 1785, the first +idea was started of a revisal of the Articles of Confederation, by +the organization, of means differing from that of a compact +between the State Legislatures and their own delegates in +Congress. A convention of delegates from the State +Legislatures, independent of the Congress itself, was the +expedient which presented itself for effecting the purpose, and +an augmentation of the powers of Congress for the regulation +of commerce, as the object for which this assembly was to be +convened. In January, 1785, the proposal was made and +adopted in the Legislature of Virginia, and communicated to +the other State Legislatures. + +The Convention was held at Annapolis, in September of that +year. It was attended by delegates from only five of the central +States, who, on comparing their restricted powers with the +glaring and universally acknowledged defects of the +Confederation, reported only a recommendation for the +assemblage of another convention of delegates to meet at +Philadelphia, in May, 1787, from all the States, and with +enlarged powers. + +The Constitution of the United States was the work of this +Convention. But in its construction the Convention +immediately perceived that they must retrace their steps, and +fall back from a league of friendship between sovereign States +to the constituent sovereignty of the people; from power to +right--from the irresponsible despotism of State sovereignty to +the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence. In +that instrument, the right to institute and to alter governments +among men was ascribed exclusively to the people--the ends of +government were declared to be to secure the natural rights of +man; and that when the government degenerates from the +promotion to the destruction of that end, the right and the duty +accrues to the people to dissolve this degenerate government +and to institute another. The signers of the Declaration further +averred, that the one people of the United Colonies were then +precisely in that situation--with a government degenerated into +tyranny, and called upon by the laws of nature and of nature's +God to dissolve that government and to institute another. Then, +in the name and by the authority of the good people of the +colonies, they pronounced the dissolution of their allegiance to +the king, and their eternal separation from the nation of Great +Britain--and declared the United Colonies independent States. +And here as the representatives of the one people they had +stopped. They did not require the confirmation of this act, for +the power to make the declaration had already been conferred +upon them by the people, delegating the power, indeed, +separately in the separate colonies, not by colonial authority, +but by the spontaneous revolutionary movement of the people +in them all. + +From the day of that Declaration, the constituent power of the +people had never been called into action. A confederacy had +been substituted in the place of a government, and State +sovereignty had usurped the constituent sovereignty of the +people. + +The Convention assembled at Philadelphia had themselves +no direct authority from the people. Their authority was all +derived from the State Legislatures. But they had the Articles +of Confederation before them, and they saw and felt the +wretched condition into which they had brought the whole +people, and that the Union itself was in the agonies of death. +They soon perceived that the indispensably needed powers +were such as no State government, no combination of them, +was by the principles of the Declaration of Independence +competent to bestow. They could emanate only from the +people. A highly respectable portion of the assembly, still +clinging to the confederacy of States, proposed, as a substitute +for the Constitution, a mere revival of the Articles of +Confederation, with a grant of additional powers to the +Congress. Their plan was respectfully and thoroughly +discussed, but the want of a government and of the sanction of +the people to the delegation of powers happily prevailed. A +constitution for the people, and the distribution of legislative, +executive, and judicial powers was prepared. It announced +itself as the work of the people themselves; and as this was +unquestionably a power assumed by the Convention, not +delegated to them by the people, they religiously confined it to +a simple power to propose, and carefully provided that it should +be no more than a proposal until sanctioned by the +Confederation Congress, by the State Legislatures, and by the +people of the several States, in conventions specially +assembled, by authority of their Legislatures, for the single +purpose of examining and passing upon it. + +And thus was consummated the work commenced by the +Declaration of Independence--a work in which the people of the +North American Union, acting under the deepest sense of +responsibility to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, had +achieved the most transcendent act of power that social man in +his mortal condition can perform--even that of dissolving the +ties of allegiance by which he is bound to his country; of +renouncing that country itself; of demolishing its government; +of instituting another government; and of making for himself +another country in its stead. + +And on that day, of which you now commemorate the fiftieth +anniversary--on that thirtieth day of April, 1789--was this +mighty revolution, not only in the affairs of our own country, +but in the principles of government over civilized man, +accomplished. + +The Revolution itself was a work of thirteen years--and had +never been completed until that day. The Declaration of +Independence and the Constitution of the United States are +parts of one consistent whole, founded upon one and the same +theory of government, then new in practice, though not as a +theory, for it had been working itself into the mind of man for +many ages, and had been especially expounded in the writings +of Locke, though it had never before been adopted by a great +nation in practice. + +There are yet, even at this day, many speculative objections to +this theory. Even in our own country there are still +philosophers who deny the principles asserted in the +Declaration, as self-evident truths--who deny the natural +equality and inalienable rights of man--who deny that the +people are the only legitimate source of power--who deny that +all just powers of government are derived from the consent of +the governed. Neither your time, nor perhaps the cheerful +nature of this occasion, permit me here to enter upon the +examination of this anti-revolutionary theory, which arrays +State sovereignty against the constituent sovereignty of the +people, and distorts the Constitution of the United States into a +league of friendship between confederate corporations. I speak +to matters of fact. There is the Declaration of Independence, +and there is the Constitution of the United States--let them +speak for themselves. The grossly immoral and dishonest +doctrine of despotic State sovereignty, the exclusive judge of its +own obligations, and responsible to no power on earth or in +heaven, for the violation of them, is not there. The Declaration +says, it is not in me. The Constitution says, it is not in me. + + + +"Oration at Plymouth, December 22, 1802, in Commemoration +of the Landing of the Pilgrims." + + +Among the sentiments of most powerful operation upon the +human heart, and most highly honorable to the human +character, are those of veneration for our forefathers, and of +love for our posterity. They form the connecting links between +the selfish and the social passions. By the fundamental +principle of Christianity, the happiness of the individual is +interwoven, by innumerable and imperceptible ties, with that of +his contemporaries. By the power of filial reverence and +parental affection, individual existence is extended beyond the +limits of individual life, and the happiness of every age is +chained in mutual dependence upon that of every other. +Respect for his ancestors excites, in the breast of man, interest +in their history, attachment to their characters, concern for +their errors, involuntary pride in their virtues. Love for his +posterity spurs him to exertion for their support, stimulates him +to virtue for their example, and fills him with the tenderest +solicitude for their welfare. Man, therefore, was not made for +himself alone. No, he was made for his country, by the +obligations of the social compact; he was made for his species, +by the Christian duties of universal charity; he was made for all +ages past, by the sentiment of reverence for his forefathers; and +he was made for all future times, by the impulse of affection for +his progeny. Under the influence of these principles, + + "Existence sees him spurn her bounded reign." + +They redeem his nature from the subjection of time and +space; he is no longer a "puny insect shivering at a breeze"; he +is the glory of creation, formed to occupy all time and all +extent; bounded, during his residence upon earth, only to the +boundaries of the world, and destined to life and immortality in +brighter regions, when the fabric of nature itself shall dissolve +and perish. + +The voice of history has not, in all its compass, a note but +answers in unison with these sentiments. The barbarian +chieftain, who defended his country against the Roman +invasion, driven to the remotest extremity of Britain, and +stimulating his followers to battle by all that has power of +persuasion upon the human heart, concluded his persuasion by +an appeal to these irresistible feelings: "Think of your +forefathers and of your posterity." The Romans themselves, at +the pinnacle of civilization, were actuated by the same +impressions, and celebrated, in anniversary festivals, every +great event which had signalized the annals of their forefathers. +To multiply instances where it were impossible to adduce an +exception would be to waste your time and abuse your +patience; but in the sacred volume, which contains the +substances of our firmest faith and of our most precious hopes, +these passions not only maintain their highest efficacy, but are +sanctioned by the express injunctions of the Divine Legislator +to his chosen people. + +The revolutions of time furnish no previous example of a +nation shooting up to maturity and expanding into greatness +with the rapidity which has characterized the growth of the +American people. In the luxuriance of youth, and in the vigor +of manhood, it is pleasing and instructive to look backward +upon the helpless days of infancy; but in the continual and +essential changes of a growing subject, the transactions of that +early period would be soon obliterated from the memory but +for some periodical call of attention to aid the silent records of +the historian. Such celebrations arouse and gratify the kindliest +emotions of the bosom. They are faithful pledges of the +respect we bear to the memory of our ancestors and of the +tenderness with which we cherish the rising generation. They +introduce the sages and heroes of ages past to the notice and +emulation of succeeding times; they are at once testimonials of +our gratitude, and schools of virtue to our children. + +These sentiments are wise; they are honorable; they are +virtuous; their cultivation is not merely innocent pleasure, it is +incumbent duty. Obedient to their dictates, you, my fellow- +citizens, have instituted and paid frequent observance to this +annual solemnity. and what event of weightier intrinsic +importance, or of more extensive consequences, was ever +selected for this honorary distinction? + +In reverting to the period of our origin, other nations have +generally been compelled to plunge into the chaos of +impenetrable antiquity, or to trace a lawless ancestry into the +caverns of ravishers and robbers. It is your peculiar privilege +to commemorate, in this birthday of your nation, an event +ascertained in its minutest details; an event of which the +principal actors are known to you familiarly, as if belonging to +your own age; an event of a magnitude before which +imagination shrinks at the imperfection of her powers. It is +your further happiness to behold, in those eminent characters, +who were most conspicuous in accomplishing the settlement of +your country, men upon whose virtue you can dwell with +honest exultation. The founders of your race are not handed +down to you, like the fathers of the Roman people, as the +sucklings of a wolf. You are not descended from a nauseous +compound of fanaticism and sensuality, whose only argument +was the sword, and whose only paradise was a brothel. No +Gothic scourge of God, no Vandal pest of nations, no fabled +fugitive from the flames of Troy, no bastard Norman tyrant, +appears among the list of worthies who first landed on the +rock, which your veneration has preserved as a lasting +monument of their achievement. The great actors of the day +we now solemnize were illustrious by their intrepid valor no +less than by their Christian graces, but the clarion of conquest +has not blazoned forth their names to all the winds of heaven. +Their glory has not been wafted over oceans of blood to the +remotest regions of the earth. They have not erected to +themselves colossal statues upon pedestals of human bones, to +provoke and insult the tardy hand of heavenly retribution. But +theirs was "the better fortitude of patience and heroic +martyrdom." Theirs was the gentle temper of Christian +kindness; the rigorous observance of reciprocal justice; the +unconquerable soul of conscious integrity. Worldly fame has +been parsimonious of her favor to the memory of those +generous companions. Their numbers were small; their stations +in life obscure; the object of their enterprise unostentatious; the +theatre of their exploits remote; how could they possibly be +favorites of worldly Fame--that common crier, whose existence +is only known by the assemblage of multitudes; that pander of +wealth and greatness, so eager to haunt the palaces of fortune, +and so fastidious to the houseless dignity of virtue; that +parasite of pride, ever scornful to meekness, and ever +obsequious to insolent power; that heedless trumpeter, whose +ears are deaf to modest merit, and whose eyes are blind to +bloodless, distant excellence? + +When the persecuted companions of Robinson, exiles from +their native land, anxiously sued for the privilege of removing a +thousand leagues more distant to an untried soil, a rigorous +climate, and a savage wilderness, for the sake of reconciling +their sense of religious duty with their affections for their +country, few, perhaps none of them, formed a conception of +what would be, within two centuries, the result of their +undertaking. When the jealous and niggardly policy of their +British sovereign denied them even that humblest of requests, +and instead of liberty would barely consent to promise +connivance, neither he nor they might be aware that they were +laying the foundations of a power, and that he was sowing the +seeds of a spirit, which, in less than two hundred years, would +stagger the throne of his descendants, and shake his united +kingdoms to the centre. So far is it from the ordinary habits of +mankind to calculate the importance of events in their +elementary principles, that had the first colonists of our country +ever intimated as a part of their designs the project of founding +a great and mighty nation, the finger of scorn would have +pointed them to the cells of Bedlam as an abode more suitable +for hatching vain empires than the solitude of a transatlantic +desert. + +These consequences, then so little foreseen, have unfolded +themselves, in all their grandeur, to the eyes of the present age. +It is a common amusement of speculative minds to contrast the +magnitude of the most important events with the minuteness of +their primeval causes, and the records of mankind are full of +examples for such contemplations. It is, however, a more +profitable employment to trace the constituent principles of +future greatness in their kernel; to detect in the acorn at our +feet the germ of that majestic oak, whose roots shoot down to +the centre, and whose branches aspire to the skies. Let it be, +then, our present occupation to inquire and endeavor to +ascertain the causes first put in operation at the period of our +commemoration, and already productive of such magnificent +effects; to examine with reiterated care and minute attention +the characters of those men who gave the first impulse to a +new series of events in the history of the world; to applaud and +emulate those qualities of their minds which we shall find +deserving of our admiration; to recognize with candor those +features which forbid approbation or even require censure, and, +finally, to lay alike their frailties and their perfections to our +own hearts, either as warning or as example. + + + Of the various European settlements upon this continent, +which have finally merged in one independent nation, the first +establishments were made at various times, by several nations, +and under the influence of different motives. In many +instances, the conviction of religious obligation formed one and +a powerful inducement of the adventures; but in none, +excepting the settlement at Plymouth, did they constitute the +sole and exclusive actuating cause. Worldly interest and +commercial speculation entered largely into the views of other +settlers, but the commands of conscience were the only +stimulus to the emigrants from Leyden. Previous to their +expedition hither, they had endured a long banishment from +their native country. Under every species of discouragement, +they undertook the voyage; they performed it in spite of +numerous and almost insuperable obstacles; they arrived upon +a wilderness bound with frost and hoary with snow, without +the boundaries of their charter, outcasts from all human +society, and coasted five weeks together, in the dead of winter, +on this tempestuous shore, exposed at once to the fury of the +elements, to the arrows of the native savage, and to the +impending horrors of famine. + +Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before +which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. +These qualities have ever been displayed in their mightiest +perfection, as attendants in the retinue of strong passions. +From the first discovery of the Western Hemisphere by +Columbus until the settlement of Virginia which immediately +preceded that of Plymouth, the various adventurers from the +ancient world had exhibited upon innumerable occasions that +ardor of enterprise and that stubbornness of pursuit which set +all danger at defiance, and chained the violence of nature at +their feet. But they were all instigated by personal interests. +Avarice and ambition had tuned their souls to that pitch of +exaltation. Selfish passions were the parents of their heroism. +It was reserved for the first settlers of new England to perform +achievements equally arduous, to trample down obstructions +equally formidable, to dispel dangers equally terrific, under the +single inspiration of conscience. To them even liberty herself +was but a subordinate and secondary consideration. They +claimed exemption from the mandates of human authority, as +militating with their subjection to a superior power. Before the +voice of Heaven they silenced even the calls of their country. + +Yet, while so deeply impressed with the sense of religious +obligation, they felt, in all its energy, the force of that tender tie +which binds the heart of every virtuous man to his native land. +It was to renew that connection with their country which had +been severed by their compulsory expatriation, that they +resolved to face all the hazards of a perilous navigation and all +the labors of a toilsome distant settlement. Under the mild +protection of the Batavian Government, they enjoyed already +that freedom of religious worship, for which they had resigned +so many comforts and enjoyments at home; but their hearts +panted for a restoration to the bosom of their country. Invited +and urged by the open-hearted and truly benevolent people +who had given them an asylum from the persecution of their +own kindred to form their settlement within the territories then +under their jurisdiction, the love of their country predominated +over every influence save that of conscience alone, and they +preferred the precarious chance of relaxation from the bigoted +rigor of the English Government to the certain liberality and +alluring offers of the Hollanders. Observe, my countrymen, the +generous patriotism, the cordial union of soul, the conscious +yet unaffected vigor which beam in their application to the +British monarch: + +"They were well weaned from the delicate milk of their +mother country, and inured to the difficulties of a strange land. +They were knit together in a strict and sacred bond, to take +care of the good of each other and of the whole. It was not +with them as with other men, whom small things could +discourage, or small discontents cause to wish themselves +again at home." + +Children of these exalted Pilgrims! Is there one among you +ho can hear the simple and pathetic energy of these expressions +without tenderness and admiration? Venerated shades of our +forefathers! No, ye were, indeed, not ordinary men! That +country which had ejected you so cruelly from her bosom you +still delighted to contemplate in the character of an affectionate +and beloved mother. The sacred bond which knit you together +was indissoluble while you lived; and oh, may it be to your +descendants the example and the pledge of harmony to the +latest period of time! The difficulties and dangers, which so +often had defeated attempts of similar establishments, were +unable to subdue souls tempered like yours. You heard the +rigid interdictions; you saw the menacing forms of toil and +danger, forbidding your access to this land of promise; but you +heard without dismay; you saw and disdained retreat. Firm and +undaunted in the confidence of that sacred bond; conscious of +the purity, and convinced of the importance of your motives, +you put your trust in the protecting shield of Providence, and +smiled defiance at the combining terrors of human malice and +of elemental strife. These, in the accomplishment of your +undertaking, you were summoned to encounter in their most +hideous forms; these you met with that fortitude, and combated +with that perseverance, which you had promised in their +anticipation; these you completely vanquished in establishing +the foundations of New England, and the day which we now +commemorate is the perpetual memorial of your triumph. + + It were an occupation peculiarly pleasing to cull from our +early historians, and exhibit before you every detail of this +transaction; to carry you in imagination on board their bark at +the first moment of her arrival in the bay; to accompany +Carver, Winslow, Bradford, and Standish, in all their +excursions upon the desolate coast; to follow them into every +rivulet and creek where they endeavored to find a firm footing, +and to fix, with a pause of delight and exultation, the instant +when the first of these heroic adventurers alighted on the spot +where you, their descendants, now enjoy the glorious and +happy reward of their labors. But in this grateful task, your +former orators, on this anniversary, have anticipated all that the +most ardent industry could collect, and gratified all that the +most inquisitive curiosity could desire. To you, my friends, +every occurrence of that momentous period is already familiar. +A transient allusion to a few characteristic instances, which +mark the peculiar history of the Plymouth settlers, may +properly supply the place of a narrative, which, to this +auditory, must be superfluous. + +One of these remarkable incidents is the execution of that +instrument of government by which they formed themselves +into a body politic, the day after their arrival upon the coast, +and previous to their first landing. That is, perhaps, the only +instance in human history of that positive, original social +compact, which speculative philosophers have imagined as the +only legitimate source of government. Here was a unanimous +and personal assent, by all the individuals of the community, to +the association by which they became a nation. It was the +result of circumstances and discussions which had occurred +during their passage from Europe, and is a full demonstration +that the nature of civil government, abstracted from the +political institutions of their native country, had been an object +of their serious meditation. The settlers of all the former +European colonies had contented themselves with the powers +conferred upon them by their respective charters, without +looking beyond the seal of the royal parchment for the measure +of their rights and the rule of their duties. The founders of +Plymouth had been impelled by the peculiarities of their +situation to examine the subject with deeper and more +comprehensive research. After twelve years of banishment +from the land of their first allegiance, during which they had +been under an adoptive and temporary subjection to another +sovereign, they must naturally have been led to reflect upon the +relative rights and duties of allegiance and subjection. They +had resided in a city, the seat of a university, where the +polemical and political controversies of the time were pursued +with uncommon fervor. In this period they had witnessed the +deadly struggle between the two parties, into which the people +of the United Provinces, after their separation from the crown +of Spain, had divided themselves. The contest embraced +within its compass not only theological doctrines, but political +principles, and Maurice and Barnevelt were the temporal +leaders of the same rival factions, of which Episcopius and +Polyander were the ecclesiastical champions. + +That the investigation of the fundamental principles of +government was deeply implicated in these dissensions is +evident from the immortal work of Grotius, upon the rights of +war and peace, which undoubtedly originated from them. +Grotius himself had been a most distinguished actor and +sufferer in those important scenes of internal convulsion, and +his work was first published very shortly after the departure of +our forefathers from Leyden. It is well known that in the +course of the contest Mr. Robinson more than once appeared, +with credit to himself, as a public disputant against Episcopius; +and from the manner in which the fact is related by Governor +Bradford, it is apparent that the whole English Church at +Leyden took a zealous interest in the religious part of the +controversy. As strangers in the land, it is presumable that +they wisely and honorably avoided entangling themselves in the +political contentions involved with it. Yet the theoretic +principles, as they were drawn into discussion, could not fail to +arrest their attention, and must have assisted them to form +accurate ideas concerning the origin and extent of authority +among men, independent of positive institutions. The +importance of these circumstances will not be duly weighed +without taking into consideration the state of opinion then +prevalent in England. The general principles of government +were there little understood and less examined. The whole +substance of human authority was centred in the simple +doctrine of royal prerogative, the origin of which was always +traced in theory to divine institution. Twenty years later, the +subject was more industriously sifted, and for half a century +became one of the principal topics of controversy between the +ablest and most enlightened men in the nation. The instrument +of voluntary association executed on board the "Mayflower" +testifies that the parties to it had anticipated the improvement +of their nation. + +Another incident, from which we may derive occasion for +important reflections, was the attempt of these original settlers +to establish among them that community of goods and of labor, +which fanciful politicians, from the days of Plato to those of +Rousseau, have recommended as the fundamental law of a +perfect republic. This theory results, it must be acknowledged, +from principles of reasoning most flattering to the human +character. If industry, frugality, and disinterested integrity +were alike the virtues of all, there would, apparently, be more +of the social spirit, in making all property a common stock, and +giving to each individual a proportional title to the wealth of +the whole. Such is the basis upon which Plato forbids, in his +Republic, the division of property. Such is the system upon +which Rousseau pronounces the first man who inclosed a field +with a fence, and said, "This is mine," a traitor to the human +species. A wiser and more useful philosophy, however, directs +us to consider man according to the nature in which he was +formed; subject to infirmities, which no wisdom can remedy; to +weaknesses, which no institution can strengthen; to vices, +which no legislation can correct. Hence, it becomes obvious +that separate property is the natural and indisputable right of +separate exertion; that community of goods without +community of toil is oppressive and unjust; that it counteracts +the laws of nature, which prescribe that he only who sows the +seed shall reap the harvest; that it discourages all energy, by +destroying its rewards; and makes the most virtuous and active +members of society the slaves and drudges of the worst. Such +was the issue of this experiment among our forefathers, and the +same event demonstrated the error of the system in the elder +settlement of Virginia. Let us cherish that spirit of harmony +which prompted our forefathers to make the attempt, under +circumstances more favorable to its success than, perhaps, ever +occurred upon earth. Let us no less admire the candor with +which they relinquished it, upon discovering its irremediable +inefficacy. To found principles of government upon too +advantageous an estimate of the human character is an error of +inexperience, the source of which is so amiable that it is +impossible to censure it with severity. We have seen the same +mistake committed in our own age, and upon a larger theatre. +Happily for our ancestors, their situation allowed them to +repair it before its effects had proved destructive. They had no +pride of vain philosophy to support, no perfidious rage of +faction to glut, by persevering in their mistakes until they +should be extinguished in torrents of blood. + +As the attempt to establish among themselves the community +of goods was a seal of that sacred bond which knit them so +closely together, so the conduct they observed toward the +natives of the country displays their steadfast adherence to the +rules of justice and their faithful attachment to those of +benevolence and charity. + +No European settlement ever formed upon this continent has +been more distinguished for undeviating kindness and equity +toward the savages. There are, indeed, moralists who have +questioned the right of the Europeans to intrude upon the +possessions of the aboriginals in any case, and under any +limitations whatsoever. But have they maturely considered the +whole subject? The Indian right of possession itself stands, +with regard to the greater part of the country, upon a +questionable foundation. Their cultivated fields; their +constructed habitations; a space of ample sufficiency for their +subsistence, and whatever they had annexed to themselves by +personal labor, was undoubtedly, by the laws of nature, theirs. +But what is the right of a huntsman to the forest of a thousand +miles over which he has accidentally ranged in quest of prey? +Shall the liberal bounties of Providence to the race of man be +monopolized by one of ten thousand for whom they were +created? Shall the exuberant bosom of the common mother, +amply adequate to the nourishment of millions, be claimed +exclusively by a few hundreds of her offspring? Shall the lordly +savage not only disdain the virtues and enjoyments of +civilization himself, but shall he control the civilization of a +world? Shall he forbid the wilderness to blossom like a rose? +Shall he forbid the oaks of the forest to fall before the axe of +industry, and to rise again, transformed into the habitations of +ease and elegance? shall he doom an immense region of the +globe to perpetual desolation, and to hear the howlings of the +tiger and the wolf silence forever the voice of human gladness? +Shall the fields and the valleys, which a beneficent God has +formed to teem with the life of innumerable multitudes, be +condemned to everlasting barrenness? Shall the mighty rivers, +poured out by the hand of nature, as channels of +communication between numerous nations, roll their waters in +sullen silence and eternal solitude of the deep? Have hundreds +of commodious harbors, a thousand leagues of coast, and a +boundless ocean, been spread in the front of this land, and shall +every purpose of utility to which they could apply be prohibited +by the tenant of the woods? No, generous philanthropists! +Heaven has not been thus inconsistent in the works of its +hands. Heaven has not thus placed at irreconcilable strife its +moral laws with its physical creation. The Pilgrims of +Plymouth obtained their right of possession to the territory on +which they settled, by titles as fair and unequivocal as any +human property can be held. By their voluntary association +they recognized their allegiance to the government of Britain, +and in process of time received whatever powers and +authorities could be conferred upon them by a charter from +their sovereign. The spot on which they fixed had belonged to +an Indian tribe, totally extirpated by that devouring pestilence +which had swept the country shortly before their arrival. The +territory, thus free from all exclusive possession, they might +have taken by the natural right of occupancy. Desirous, +however, of giving amply satisfaction to every pretence of +prior right, by formal and solemn conventions with the chiefs +of the neighboring tribes, they acquired the further security of a +purchase. At their hands the children of the desert had no +cause of complaint. On the great day of retribution, what +thousands, what millions of the American race will appear at +the bar of judgment to arraign their European invading +conquerors! Let us humbly hope that the fathers of the +Plymouth Colony will then appear in the whiteness of +innocence. Let us indulge in the belief that they will not only +be free from all accusation of injustice to these unfortunate +sons of nature, but that the testimonials of their acts of +kindness and benevolence toward them will plead the cause of +their virtues, as they are now authenticated by the record of +history upon earth. + +Religious discord has lost her sting; the cumbrous weapons +of theological warfare are antiquated; the field of politics +supplies the alchemists of our times with materials of more +fatal explosion, and the butchers of mankind no longer travel to +another world for instruments of cruelty and destruction. Our +age is too enlightened to contend upon topics which concern +only the interests of eternity; the men who hold in proper +contempt all controversies about trifles, except such as inflame +their own passions, have made it a commonplace censure +against your ancestors, that their zeal was enkindled by +subjects of trivial importance; and that however aggrieved by +the intolerance of others, they were alike intolerant themselves. +Against these objections, your candid judgment will not require +an unqualified justification; but your respect and gratitude for +the founders of the State may boldly claim an ample apology. +The original grounds of their separation from the Church of +England were not objects of a magnitude to dissolve the bonds +of communion, much less those of charity, between Christian +brethren of the same essential principles. Some of them, +however, were not inconsiderable, and numerous inducements +concurred to give them an extraordinary interest in their eyes. +When that portentous system of abuses, the Papal dominion, +was overturned, a great variety of religious sects arose in its +stead in the several countries, which for many centuries before +had been screwed beneath its subjection. The fabric of the +Reformation, first undertaken in England upon a contracted +basis, by a capricious and sanguinary tyrant, had been +successively overthrown and restored, renewed and altered, +according to the varying humors and principles of four +successive monarchs. To ascertain the precise point of division +between the genuine institutions of Christianity and the +corruptions accumulated upon them in the progress of fifteen +centuries, was found a task of extreme difficulty throughout +the Christian world. + +Men of the profoundest learning, of the sublimest genius, and +of the purest integrity, after devoting their lives to the research, +finally differed in their ideas upon many great points, both of +doctrine and discipline. The main question, it was admitted on +all hands, most intimately concerned the highest interests of +man, both temporal and eternal. Can we wonder that men who +felt their happiness here and their hopes of hereafter, their +worldly welfare and the kingdom of heaven at stake, should +sometimes attach an importance beyond their intrinsic weight +to collateral points of controversy, connected with the all- +involving object of the Reformation? The changes in the forms +and principles of religious worship were introduced and +regulated in England by the hand of public authority. But that +hand had not been uniform or steady in its operations. During +the persecutions inflicted in the interval of Popish restoration +under the reign of Mary, upon all who favored the +Reformation, many of the most zealous reformers had been +compelled to fly their country. While residing on the continent +of Europe, they had adopted the principles of the most +complete and rigorous reformation, as taught and established +by Calvin. On returning afterward to their native country, they +were dissatisfied with the partial reformation, at which, as they +conceived, the English establishment had rested; and claiming +the privilege of private conscience, upon which alone any +departure from the Church of Rome could be justified, they +insisted upon the right of adhering to the system of their own +preference, and, of course, upon that of non-conformity to the +establishment prescribed by the royal authority. The only +means used to convince them of error and reclaim them from +dissent was force, and force served but to confirm the +opposition it was meant to suppress. By driving the founders +of the Plymouth Colony into exile, it constrained them to +absolute separation irreconcilable. Viewing their religious +liberties here, as held only by sufferance, yet bound to them by +all the ties of conviction, and by all their sufferings for them, +could they forbear to look upon every dissenter among +themselves with a jealous eye? Within two years after their +landing, they beheld a rival settlement attempted in their +immediate neighborhood; and not long after, the laws of self- +preservation compelled them to break up a nest of revellers, +who boasted of protection from the mother country, and who +had recurred to the easy but pernicious resource of feeding +their wanton idleness, by furnishing the savages with the +means, the skill, and the instruments of European destruction. +Toleration, in that instance, would have been self-murder, and +many other examples might be alleged, in which their necessary +measures of self-defence have been exaggerated into cruelty, +and their most indispensable precautions distorted into +persecution. Yet shall we not pretend that they were exempt +from the common laws of mortality, or entirely free from all +the errors of their age. Their zeal might sometimes be too +ardent, but it was always sincere. At this day, religious +indulgence is one of our clearest duties, because it is one of our +undisputed rights. While we rejoice that the principles of +genuine Christianity have so far triumphed over the prejudices +of a former generation, let us fervently hope for the day when +it will prove equally victorious over the malignant passions of +our own. + +In thus calling your attention to some of the peculiar features +in the principles, the character, and the history of our +forefathers, it is as wide from my design, as I know it would be +from your approbation, to adorn their memory with a chaplet +plucked from the domain of others. The occasion and the day +are more peculiarly devoted to them, and let it never be +dishonored with a contracted and exclusive spirit. Our +affections as citizens embrace the whole extent of the Union, +and the names of Raleigh, Smith, Winthrop, Calvert, Penn and +Oglethorpe excite in our minds recollections equally pleasing +and gratitude equally fervent with those of Carver and +Bradford. Two centuries have not yet elapsed since the first +European foot touched the soil which now constitutes the +American Union. Two centuries more and our numbers must +exceed those of Europe itself. The destinies of their empire, as +they appear in prospect before us, disdain the powers of human +calculation. Yet, as the original founder of the Roman State is +said once to have lifted upon his shoulders the fame and +fortunes of all his posterity, so let us never forget that the glory +and greatness of all our descendants is in our hands. Preserve +in all their purity, refine, if possible, from all their alloy, those +virtues which we this day commemorate as the ornament of +our forefathers. Adhere to them with inflexible resolution, as +to the horns of the altar; instil them with unwearied +perseverance into the minds of your children; bind your souls +and theirs to the national Union as the chords of life are +centred in the heart, and you shall soar with rapid and steady +wing to the summit of human glory. Nearly a century ago, one +of those rare minds to whom it is given to discern future +greatness in its seminal principles, upon contemplating the +situation of this continent, pronounced, in a vein of poetic +inspiration, "Westward the star of empire takes its way." Let +us unite in ardent supplication to the Founder of nations and +the Builder of worlds, that what then was prophecy may +continue unfolding into history--that the dearest hopes of the +human race may not be extinguished in disappointment, and +that the last may prove the noblest empire of time. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Orations, by John Quincy Adams + diff --git a/old/objqa10.zip b/old/objqa10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d881efb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/objqa10.zip |