Charles Kendall Adams

“ On the other hand, the number of people who thought slavery morally wrong had increased in the North and Northwest, and the way in which new slaveholding and non-slaveholding states had been admitted into the Union by pairs, so as not to disturb the balance of power in the Senate, showed that many Southerners were alive to the dangers of the situation. Yet, after all, so great was the general desire for internal harmony that most persons were startled when the debates concerning the admission of Missouri revealed the fact that the existence of slavery was a menace to the Union. ”

“ American life might at the close of the eighteenth century seem dull and narrow to travelers from Europe, but we know that a happy, brave, free, religious people inhabited a land that yielded abundant returns to their labors, and we may readily believe that their lives were fully as useful as ours are to-day. Nor should it ever be forgotten that amid these provincial surroundings arose the greatest figure that modern history can show, and that the American people were wise enough to choose electors who would make him President. ”

“ As no satisfactory reason for his retreat could be given, Washington ordered Lee to the rear, and, galloping along the disordered mass of retreating troops, shouted for a halt, and then reformed the lines. The results of the winter’s drill were at once felt, for in the face of the enemy and under a hard fire the American troops fell into order, wheeled about, and rushed forward to a new attack. The British were driven from the ground they had gained; but night came on, and the two armies occupied the positions held before the battle. Before morning the British resumed their way to New York. ”

“ We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ”

“ We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ”

“ The Fourteenth Amendment.—While the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution forever prohibited slavery within the United States and its dependencies, the Fourteenth Amendment excluded from Congress and from all civil or military offices in the United States all persons who, after having taken the oath to support the Constitution of the United States, should “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof,” until Congress, by a two-thirds vote of each House, should remove such disability. ”

“ Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. ”

“ After a tremendous fire of one hundred and thirty cannon for two hours, for the purpose of throwing the Union line into confusion, this division, made up of the flower of the Confederate army, rushed forward to the assault. For about one mile they were within range of the Federal guns. No men ever fought more bravely, but success was impossible. The dead and the dying strewed the ground along the way. Only a few of the fifteen thousand reached the Union line, and most of these were obliged to give themselves up as prisoners. ”

“ They were opposed to all efforts to settle the slavery question by political action. They upheld every kind of reform, no matter how extreme, and were continually at loggerheads among themselves. In other words, they were impractical, and their methods in the early years of the agitation were abhorrent to the average American citizen. Nevertheless, they aroused the public conscience on the subject of slavery, and, as leaders of a crusade, their most influential members, men and women, have perhaps never been surpassed. ”

“ Nevertheless, it seems clear that the masses of the people live wholesome lives, and that the public conscience of America will not tolerate abuses when once these are made plain. The churches are very active, and no other people have ever had better school and library facilities or made fuller use of them. No other nation has ever shown such interest in organized charities or in reforms of various sorts, such as those directed against the evils of easy divorce and of intemperance. In morals, as well as in wealth and industry, the century just closed marks a great advance for America. ”

“ Urban life did not attract country people as it does now, but the towns had grown and prospered. New York was in 1830 a city of two hundred thousand inhabitants. Philadelphia was not far behind. Cincinnati had grown from a mere village to a town of nearly twenty-five thousand people. Throughout the North, East, and West, therefore, the watchword was “Development.” Even in the South, which was rendered conservative and sluggish by the presence of slavery, there were not wanting proofs that many energetic men would like to imitate their more fortunate brothers of other sections. ”

“ To stop the history of Europe at 1871 is to leave the pupil in the rear of the world of to-day much farther than is ordinarily represented by a human lifetime. Since that date a new Germany, a new Italy, a new and stable French Republic have been created, through the principles of democracy and nationality. The growth of these principles, their struggle with the divine right monarchies, and final victory, are described in vivid language. To put the student in touch with the recent movements in politics and in society is the business of the high school course in history. ”

“ Jefferson an Idealist.—Americans have been right in recognizing in Jefferson their main political spokesman. No other man has ever so thoroughly brought the people to his way of thinking, or so completely held his own with politicians of all degrees of ability and ambition. Congress followed his lead almost blindly, even in military matters, about which he knew little. His popularity speedily recovered from the decline it experienced during the days of the Embargo, and for nearly twenty years his home at Monticello was almost like a pilgrim’s shrine. ”

“ Changes among the People.—The new democracy was strong and honest, but very ignorant. It was controlled by clever politicians, who used the machinery of caucus, primary election, and nominating conventions, and also introduced the ideas of the supreme virtue of party fealty, and of the propriety of distributing the spoils of office to the victors in each successive election. In other words, men were being taught to distrust their individual judgment and to trust that of their party. ”

“ If the British government, either alone, or in combination with any other government, should acknowledge the insurgents, you will immediately suspend the exercise of your functions, and give notice of that suspension to Earl Russell, and to this department.” The letter also contained these resolute words: “We meet and confront the danger of a war with Great Britain. We have approached the contemplation of that crisis with a caution which great reluctance has inspired. But I trust that you will also have perceived that the crisis has not appalled us.” ”

“ On the 4th of July, Congress met in special session. Lincoln, in his message, after reviewing the situation, said: “This issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It presents to the whole family of man the question whether a constitutional republic or democracy—a government of the people by the same people—can or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against its own domestic foes.” Congress at once authorized the President, at his discretion, to call out five hundred thousand volunteers, and gave him all the powers necessary to carry on the war. ”

“ That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. ”

“ He believed in democracy and wished government to be simple in every respect. Being suspicious by nature, he thought that Hamilton and the Federalists were aiming to establish a strong republic that might develop into a monarchy. In order to oppose them, he drew together all the dissatisfied elements in the country, as well as all the advocates of a simple, popular government, into a party soon known as the Democratic-Republicans. Under one name or another, the two parties formed under Hamilton and Jefferson have existed to our own day. ”

“ Born on the border between the two Carolinas, he had early made his way to Tennessee and there had risen to leadership through his strength of character and his possession of all the manly qualities most held in repute by the pioneer settlers. The democratic voters gave him whatever political or military offices he wanted, and were thoroughly satisfied with the effective way he discharged his duties. When Indians or British threatened the South or Southwest, he was the man to whom the general government had to turn, and his constant success made him a popular hero throughout the Union. ”

“ The united fleets of France and Spain, even without the help of Holland, were scarcely weaker than the British fleet, and they at once threatened, while the English were occupied in America, not only to destroy the commerce of England in the open seas, but also to recover Gibraltar, and to overwhelm all the English possessions in the West Indies. The influence of these alliances on the American war may be inferred from the fact that while in 1779 the British had three hundred and fourteen thousand men under arms, not a tenth of that number were at any time in America. ”

“ The loss of New York, including Fort Washington, brought out the American opponents of the Revolution in great force. From the very beginning of the agitation which resulted in independence, there had been three somewhat distinct classes of people among the colonists. One class believed that on the whole the British government was the best in existence, and that the colonists would be benefited by showing a constant spirit of loyalty and fidelity to the Crown. Such people were opposed to every form of agitation that would look to the British like insubordination. ”

“ Social Conditions.—With regard to social conditions, the tendency in the South was to form an aristocracy, based on race and the distinction between manual and other forms of labor. In New England, too, there was an aristocracy, based mainly on education and religion, but also on birth and wealth. In the Middle colonies there were traces of an aristocracy in the “Patroons” of New York and in the masters of the fairly numerous negro slaves. But on the whole, manual labor was held in esteem, and the population was democratic in its tendencies. ”

“ Over 3,500,000 persons lived in border states which did not join the Confederacy; so that when the crisis came, only about 8,700,000 whites in the South were to be matched against the 19,000,000 whites of the North and West. The advantage on the side of freedom was not really so great as these figures would make it; for the Southerners could leave their slaves at work and could flock to the front, while the Northern people had to keep their farms and factories going as well as fight. But when all allowances are made, the balance in favor of freedom was very great. ”

“ The New Democracy.—The new type of politicians controlling the country was but an index of a new electorate. In the East the downfall of the Federalists and the constant extensions of the suffrage had created a party of “the people,” which would have had little chance of making its wishes law under the régime of Washington, or even of Jefferson. But it hailed in Jackson a leader after its own heart. ”

“ We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. ”