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diff --git a/old/objqa10.txt b/old/objqa10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..788f8da --- /dev/null +++ b/old/objqa10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1260 @@ +*The Project Gutenberg Etext of Orations, by John Quincy Adams* +#1 in our series by John Quincy Adams + +This Etext is being officially released as the last Etext of the +month for April, 1997, on the 158th Anniversary of the first one +of the orations contained. + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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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 + |