UC-NRLF 
 
 AMERICAN 
 POLITICAL 
 CLASSICS 
 
 JEFIs-ERSON 
 
 J 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/americanpoliticaOOsargrich 
 
To 
 
 Miranda Wilmatth Lux, 
 whose sweet nobility of character 
 was an inspiration to all 
 who ^neip her. 
 
THE AMERICAN 
 POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 JEFFERSON, WASHINGTON 
 and LINCOLN 
 
 Edited by 
 
 George Clark Sargent, 
 
 for the use of 
 
 The Lux School of Industrial Training, 
 
 1920. 
 
Copyright, 1920, 
 
 by 
 
 The Lux School of Industrial Training, 
 
 San Francisco, Cal. 
 
 Printed by 
 The Recorder Printing and Publishing Co. 
 
AMERICAN POUTICAL CLASSICS 
 
 The American Revolution was brought 
 about by the ambition of the English Parlia- 
 ment to make itself supreme over a people 
 who were not represented in it. As Benja- 
 min Franklin expressed it, jthe Parliament 
 claimed to be omnipotent before it had be- 
 come omniscient. It started in a revolt against 
 the king's officers, but it was Q)on seen that 
 nothing less than complete independence 
 could make the colonists safe. When this 
 had been resolved upon, the writing of the 
 great state paper by which it was proclaimed 
 was committed to Thomas Jefferson. It is as 
 follows : 
 
 Declaration of Independence. 
 
 *When, in the course of human events, it 
 becomes necessary for one people to dissolve 
 the political bands which have connected 
 them with another, and to assume, among the 
 
 462766 
 
6 * ' - ' ' A'MfiMCAN- PdOTICAL CLASSICS 
 
 powers of the earth, the separate and equal 
 station to which the laws of nature and of 
 nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to 
 the opinions of mankind requires that they 
 should declare the causes which impel them to 
 the separation. 
 
 ^'Wt hold these truths to be self-evident, 
 that all men are created equal; that they are 
 endowed by their Creator with certain un- 
 alienable rights; that among these are life, 
 liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That, 
 to secure these rights, governments are insti- 
 tuted among men, deriving their just powers 
 from the consent of the governed ; that, when- 
 ever any form of government becomes destruc- 
 tive to 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." 
 
 Then follow statements as to the orderly 
 way in which the government may be 
 changed, after which eomes an indictment 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 7 
 
 of the King of England for his many^^ acts 
 of oppression. 
 
 After seven years of war, the colonists made 
 good their independence, and the country 
 has since; become the most powerful on earth. 
 
 The growth of a people is often marked 
 by the speeches of great men. Currents of 
 thought, having small beginnings, gather 
 strength until all think alike, but in a crude 
 and ineffectual way. Then comes a genius 
 who voices the dimly felt sentiment of the 
 people. When he has spoken, all can see, 
 and seeing, believe the simple truths he 
 utters. It is like a confused mass which sud- 
 denly bursts into crystal form, — clear, beauti- 
 ful and sharply defined. Such was the fare- 
 well Address of Washington. The colonists, 
 who were now the people of the new repub- 
 lic, remembered their recent trials, vexations 
 and dangers, so that when he spoke, it was 
 as if light had come out of darkness. No 
 true American can read his noble words 
 without being elevated to a higher plane 
 of thought and citizenship. So true was 
 
8 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 his vision, and so sound his advice, that his 
 Farewell Address furnished the rule of con- 
 duct of this country for a century after he 
 left the presidency. The address is as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 Washington's Farewell Address. 
 
 ^Triends and Fellow-Citizens : The period 
 for a new election of a citizen, to administer 
 the executive government of the United 
 States, being not far distant, and the time 
 actually arrived when your thoughts must 
 be employed in designating the person who 
 is to be clothed with that important trust, 
 it appears to me proper, especially as it 
 may conduce to a more distinct expression 
 of the public voice, that I should now 
 apprise you of the resolution I have formed, 
 to decline being considered among, the num- 
 ber of those out of whom a choice is to be 
 made. 
 
 ^^I beg you, at the same time, to do me 
 the justice to be assured that this resolution 
 has not been taken without a strict regard 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 9 
 
 to all the considerations appertaining to the 
 relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his 
 country; and that, in withdrawing the tender 
 of service, which silence in my situation 
 might imply, I am influenced by no diminu- 
 tion of zeal for your future interest; no 
 deficiency of grateful respect for your past 
 kindness; but am supported by a full convic- 
 tion that the step is compatible with both. 
 ^^The acceptance of, and continuance 
 hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages 
 have twice called me, have been a uniform 
 sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, 
 and to a deference for what appeared to be 
 your desire. I constantly hoped that it 
 would have been much earlier in my power, 
 consistently with motives which I was not 
 at liberty to disregard, to return to that 
 retirement from which I had been reluc- 
 tantly drawn. The strength of my inclina- 
 tion to do this, previous to the last election, 
 had even led to the preparation of an address 
 to declare it to you; but mature reflection 
 on the then perplexed and critical posture 
 
lO AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 of our afifairs with foreign nations, and the 
 unanimous advice of persons entitled to my 
 confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. 
 
 "I rejoice that the state of your concerns, 
 external as well as internal, no longer ren- 
 ders the pursuit of inclination incompatible 
 with the sentiment of duty or propriety; 
 and am persuaded, whatever partiality may 
 be retained for my services, that, in the 
 present circumstances of our country, you 
 will not disapprove my determination to 
 retire. 
 
 ^^The impressions with which I first under- 
 took the arduous trust were explained on the 
 proper occasion. In the discharge of this 
 trust I will only say that I have with good 
 intentions contributed towards the organiza- 
 tion and administration of the government 
 the best exertions of which a very fallible 
 judgment was capable. Not unconscious 
 in the outset of the inferiority of my quali- 
 fications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps 
 still more in the eyes of others, has strength- 
 ened the motives to diffidence of myself; and 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS II 
 
 every day the increasing weight of years 
 admonishes me more and more that the shade 
 of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be 
 welcome. Satisfied that, if any circumstances 
 have given peculiar value to my services, 
 they were temporary, I have the consolation 
 to believe that, while choice and prudence 
 invite me to quit the political scene, patri- 
 otism does not forbid it. 
 
 ^^In looking forward to the moment which 
 is intended to terminate the career of my 
 public life, my feelings do not permit me 
 to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that 
 debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved 
 country for the many honors it has conferred 
 upon me; still more for the steadfast con- 
 fidence with which it has supported me; and 
 for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed 
 of manifesting my inviolable attachment by 
 services faithful and persevering, though in 
 usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits 
 have resulted to our country from these serv- 
 ices, let it always be remembered to your 
 praise, and as an instructive example in our 
 
12 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 annals, that under circumstances in which 
 the passions, agitated in every direction, were 
 liable to mislead, amidst appearances some- 
 times dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often 
 discouraging, in situations in which not un- 
 frequently want of success has countenanced 
 the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your 
 support was the essential prop of the efforts, 
 and the guaranty of the plans by which they 
 were effected. Profoundly penetrated with 
 this idea, I shall carry it with me to my 
 grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing 
 vows that Heaven may continue to you the 
 choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your 
 union and brotherly affection may be per- 
 petual; that the free constitution, which is 
 the work of your hands, may be sacredly 
 maintained; that its administration in every 
 department may be stamped with wisdom 
 and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness 
 of the people of these states, under the aus- 
 pices of liberty, may be made complete, by 
 so careful a preservation and so prudent a 
 use of this blessing, as will acquire to them 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 1 3 
 
 the glory of recommending it to the applause, 
 the affection, and the adoption of every 
 nation which is yet a stranger to it. 
 
 ^^Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a 
 solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end 
 but with my life, and the apprehension of 
 danger natural to that solicitude, urge me, on 
 an occasion like the present, to offer to your 
 solemn contemplation, and to recommend to 
 your frequent review, some sentiments, which 
 are the result of much reflection, of no incon- 
 siderable observation, and which appear to 
 me all-important to the permanency of your 
 felicity as a people. These will be offered to 
 you with the more freedom, as you can only 
 see in them the disinterested warnings of a 
 parting friend, who can possibly have no per- 
 sonal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I 
 forget, as an encouragement to it, your indul- 
 gent reception of my sentiments on a former 
 and not dissimilar occasion. Interwoven as is 
 the love of liberty with every ligament of 
 your heart, no recommendation of mine is 
 necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. 
 
14 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 "The unity of government, which consti- 
 tutes you one people, is also now dear to you. 
 It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the 
 edifice of your real independence, the support 
 of your tranquility at home, your peace 
 abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of 
 that very liberty which you so highly prize. 
 But as it is easy to foresee that from different 
 causes and from different quarters much 
 pains will be taken, many artifices employed, 
 to weaken in your minds the conviction of 
 this truth; as this is the point in your politi- 
 cal fortress against which the batteries of in- 
 ternal and external enemies will be most con- 
 stantly and actively (though often covertly 
 and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite mo- 
 ment that you should properly estimate the 
 immense value of your national union to your 
 collective and individual happiness; that you 
 should cherish a cordial, habitual, and im- 
 movable attachment to it; accustoming your- 
 selves to think and speak of it as of the 
 palladium of your political safety and pros- 
 perity; watching for its preservation with 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 1 5 
 
 jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever 
 may suggest even a suspicion that it can in 
 any event be abandoned; and indignantly 
 frowning upon the first dawning of every at- 
 tempt to alienate any portion of our country 
 from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties 
 which now link together the various parts. 
 
 ^'For this you have every inducement of 
 sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or 
 choice, of a common country, that country 
 has a right to concentrate your affections. The 
 name of America, which belongs to you, in 
 your national capacity, must always exalt the 
 just pride of patriotism, more than any ap- 
 pellation derived from local discriminations. 
 With slight shades of difference, you have the 
 same religion, manners, habits, and political 
 principles. You have in a common cause 
 fought and triumphed together; the inde- 
 pendence and liberty you possess are the 
 work of joint counsels and joint efforts, of 
 common dangers, sufferings and successes. 
 
 ^^But these considerations, however power- 
 fully they address themselves to your sensi- 
 
1 6 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 bility, are greatly outweighed by those which 
 apply more immediately to your interest. 
 Here every portion of our country finds the 
 most commanding motives for carefully 
 guarding and preserving the union of the 
 whole. 
 
 ^^The North, in an unrestrained intercourse 
 with the South, protected by the equal laws 
 of a common government, finds in the pro- 
 ductions of the latter great additional re- 
 sources of maritime and commercial enter- 
 prise and precious materials of manufactur- 
 ing industry. The South, in the same inter- 
 course, benefiting by the agency of the North, 
 sees its agriculture grow and its commerce 
 expand. Turning partly into its own chan- 
 nels the seamen of the North, it finds its par- 
 ticular navigation invigorated; and, while it 
 contributes in different ways to nourish and 
 increase the general mass of the national 
 navigation, it looks forward to the protection 
 of a maritime strength, to which itself is un- 
 equally adapted. The East, in a like inter- 
 course with the West, already finds, and in 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 1 7 
 
 the progressive improvement of interior com- 
 munications by land and water will more and 
 more find, a valuable vent for the commodi- 
 ties which it brings from abroad, or manu- 
 factures at home. The West derives from the 
 East supplies requisite to its growth and com- 
 fort; and, what is perhaps of still greater 
 consequence, it must of necessity owe the se- 
 cure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for 
 its own productions to the weight, influence, 
 and the future maritime strength of the At- 
 lantic side of the Union, directed by an in- 
 dissoluble community of interest as one na- 
 tion. Any other tenure by which the West 
 can hold this essential advantage, whether 
 derived from its own separate strength or 
 from an apostate and unnatural connection 
 with any foreign power, must be intrinsically 
 precarious. 
 
 ^While, then, every part of our country 
 thus feels an immediate and particular in- 
 terest in union, all the parts combined cannot 
 fail to find in the united mass of means and 
 efforts greater strength, greater resource, pro- 
 
1 8 AMERICAN POLItlCAL CLASSICS 
 
 portionably greater security from external 
 danger, a less frequent interruption of their 
 peace by foreign nations, and, what is of in- 
 estimable value, they must derive from union 
 an exemption from those broils and wars be- 
 tween themselves, which so frequently afflict 
 neighboring countries not tied together by the 
 same governments, which their own rival- 
 ships alone would be sufficient to produce, but 
 which opposite foreign alliances, attachments 
 and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. 
 Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity 
 of those overgrown military establishments 
 which, under any form of government, are 
 inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be 
 regarded as particularly hostile to repub- 
 lican liberty. In this sense it is that your 
 union ought to be considered as a main prop 
 of your liberty, and that the love of the one 
 ought to endear to you the preservation of 
 the other. 
 
 ^^These considerations speak a persuasive 
 language to every reflecting and virtuous 
 mind, and exhibit the continuance of the 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 1 9 
 
 union as a primary object of patriotic desire. 
 Is there a doubt whether a common govern- 
 ment can embrace so large a sphere? Let 
 experience solve it. To listen to mere spec- 
 ulation in such a case were criminal. We 
 are authorized to hope that a proper organi- 
 zation of the whole, with the auxiliary- 
 agency of governments for the respective sub- 
 divisions, will afford a happy issue to the 
 experiment. It is well worth a fair and full 
 experiment. With such powerful and obvi- 
 ous motives to union, affecting all parts of 
 our country, while experience shall not have 
 demonstrated its impracticability, there will 
 always be reason to distrust the patriotism 
 of those who in any quarter may endeavor to 
 weaken its bands. 
 
 ^^In contemplating the causes which may 
 disturb our union, it occurs as a matter of 
 serious concern, that any ground should have 
 been furnished for characterizing parties by 
 geographical discriminations, Northern and 
 Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence de- 
 signing men may endeavor to excite a belief 
 
20 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 that there is a real difiference of local interests 
 and views. One of the expedients of party 
 to acquire influence, within particular dis- 
 tricts, is to misrepresent the opinions and 
 aims of other districts. You cannot shield 
 yourselves too much against the jealousies 
 and heart-burnings which spring from these 
 misrepresentations; they tend to render alien 
 to each other those who ought to be bound 
 together by faternal affection. The inhabit- 
 ants of our western country have lately had 
 a useful lesson on this head; they have seen, 
 in the negotiation by the executive, and in 
 the unanimous ratification by the senate, of 
 the treaty with Spain, and in the universal 
 satisfaction at that event throughout the 
 United States, a decisive proof how unfound- 
 ed were the suspicions propagated among 
 them of a policy in the general government 
 and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their 
 interests in regard to the Mississippi; they 
 have been witnesses to the formation of two 
 treaties, that with Great Britain and that 
 with Spain, which secure to them everything 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 21 
 
 they could desire, in respect to our foreign 
 relations, towards confirming their prosper- 
 ity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for 
 the preservation of these advantages on the 
 Union by which they were procured? Will 
 they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, 
 if such there are, who would sever them from 
 their brethren and connect them with aliens? 
 ^^To the efficacy permanency of your 
 Union, a government for the whole is indis- 
 pensable. No alliances, however strict, be- 
 tween the parts can be an adequate substi- 
 tute; they must inevitably experience the in- 
 fractions and interruptions which all alliances 
 in all times have experienced. Sensible of 
 this momentous truth, you have improved 
 upon your first essay, by the adoption of a 
 constitution of government better calculated 
 than your former for an intimate union, and 
 for the efficacious management of your com- 
 mon concerns. This Government, the off- 
 spring of our own choice, uninfluenced and 
 unawed, adopted upon full investigation and 
 mature deliberation, completely free in its 
 
22 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 principles, in the distribution of its powers, 
 uniting security with energy, and containing 
 within itself a provision for its own amend- 
 ment, has a just claim to your confidence and 
 your support. Respect for its authority, com- 
 pliance wuth its laws, acquiescence in its 
 measures, are duties enjoined by the funda- 
 mental maxims of true Liberty. The basis 
 of our political systems is the right of the 
 people to make and to alter their constitu- 
 tions of government. But the constitution 
 which at any time exists, till changed by an 
 explicit and authentic act of the whole peo- 
 ple, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The 
 very idea of the power and the right of the 
 people to establish government presupposes 
 the duty of every individual to obey the es- 
 tablished government. 
 
 ^^All obstructions to the execution of the 
 Laws, all combinations and associations, un- 
 der whatever plausible character, with the 
 real design to direct, control, counteract, or 
 awe the regular deliberation and action of 
 the constituted authorities, are destructive of 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 23 
 
 this fundamental principle, and of fatal tend- 
 ency. They serve to organize faction, to give 
 it an artificial and extraordinary force; to 
 put in the place of the delegated will of the 
 nation, the will of a party, often a small but 
 artful and enterprising minority of the com- 
 munity; and, according to the alternative 
 triumphs of different parties, to make the 
 public administration the mirror of the ill- 
 concerted and incongruous projects of fash- 
 ion, rather than the organs of consistent and 
 wholesome plans digested by common coun- 
 cils, and modified by mutual interests. How- 
 ever combinations or associations of the 
 above description may now and then answer 
 popular ends, they are likely, in the course 
 of time and things, to become potent engines, 
 by which cunning, ambitious and unprinci- 
 pled men will be enabled to subvert the 
 power of the people, and to usurp for them- 
 selves the reins of government; destroying 
 afterwards the very engines which have lifted 
 them to unjust dominion. 
 
24 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 ^Towards the preservation of your gov- 
 ernment, and the permanency of your present 
 happy state, it is requisite, not only that you 
 steadily discountenance irregular oppositions 
 to its acknowledged authority, but also that 
 you resist with care the spirit of innovation 
 upon its principles, however specious the pre- 
 texts. One method of assault may be to effect, 
 in the forms of the constitution, alterations, 
 which will impair the energy of the system, 
 and thus to undermine what cannot be di- 
 rectly overthrown. In all the changes to 
 which you may be invited, remember that 
 time and habit are at least as necessary to 
 fix the true character of governments as of 
 other human institutions; that experience is 
 the surest standard by which to test the real 
 tendency of the existing constitution of a 
 country; that facility in changes, upon the 
 credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, ex- 
 poses to perpetual change, from the endless 
 variety of hypothesis and opinion; and re- 
 member, especially, that, for the efficient 
 management of your common interests, in a 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 25 
 
 country so extensive as ours, a government of 
 as much vigor as is consistent w^ith the per- 
 fect security of liberty is indispensable. Lib- 
 erty itself will find in such a government, 
 with powers properly distributed and ad- 
 justed, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, 
 little else than a name, where the govern- 
 ment is too feeble to withstand the enter- 
 prises of faction, to confine each member 
 of the society within the limits prescribed 
 by the laws, and to maintain all in the se- 
 cure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of 
 person and property. 
 
 ^^I have already intimated to you the dan- 
 ger of parties in the State, with particu- 
 lar reference to the founding of them on 
 geographical discrimination. Let me now 
 take a more comprehensive view, and warn 
 you in the most solemn manner against the 
 baneful effects of the spirit of party, gen- 
 erally. 
 
 ^This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable 
 from our nature, having its root in the strong- 
 est passions of the human mind. It exists 
 
26 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 under dififerent shapes in all governments, 
 more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; 
 but in those of the popular form it is seen in 
 its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst 
 enemy. 
 
 ^^The alternate domination of one fac- 
 tion over another, sharpened by the spirit of 
 revenge, natural to party dissension, v^hich 
 in dififerent ages and countries has perpe- 
 trated the most horrid enormities, is itself a 
 frightful despotism. But this leads at length 
 to a more formal and permanent despotism. 
 The disorders and miseries which result, 
 gradually incline the minds of men to seek 
 security and repose in the absolute power of 
 an individual; and sooner or later the chief 
 of some prevailing faction, more able or 
 more fortunate than his competitors, turns 
 this disposition to the purposes of his own 
 elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. 
 
 ^Without looking forward to an extremity 
 of this kind (which neverthless ought not to 
 be entirely out of sight), the common and 
 continued mischiefs of the spirit of party are 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 27 
 
 sufficient to make it the interest and duty of 
 a wise people to discourage and restrain it. 
 I ^^It serves always to distract the public 
 councils and enfeeble the public administra- 
 tion. It agitates the community with ill- 
 founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles 
 the animosity of one part against another, 
 foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It 
 opens the doors to foreign influence and 
 corruption, which find a facilitated access to 
 the government itself through the channels of 
 party passions. Thus the policy and the will 
 of one country are subjected to the policy and 
 will of another. 
 
 "There is an opinion that parties in free 
 countries are useful checks upon the adminis- 
 tration of the government, and serve to keep 
 alive the spirit of liberty. This within cer- 
 tain limits is probably true, and in govern- 
 ments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may 
 look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon 
 the spirit of party. But in those of the popu- 
 lar character, in governments purely elective, 
 it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From 
 
28 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 their natural tendency, it is certain there will 
 always be enough of that spirit for every 
 salutory purpose. And there being constant 
 danger of excess, the efifort ought to be, by 
 force of public opinion to mitigate and as- 
 suage it. A fire not to be quenched, it de- 
 mands a uniform vigilance to prevent its 
 bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warm- 
 ing, it should consume. 
 
 ^^It is important, likewise, that the 
 habits of thinking in a free country should 
 inspire caution, in those intrusted with its 
 administration, to confine themselves within 
 their respective constitutional spheres, avoid- 
 ing in the exercise of the powers of one de- 
 partment to encroach upon another. The 
 spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate 
 the powers of all the departments in one, and 
 thus to create, whatever the for mof govern- 
 ment, a real despotism. A just estimate of 
 that love of power and proneness to abuse it, 
 which predominates in the human heart, is 
 sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this posi- 
 tion. The necessity of reciprocal checks in 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 29 
 
 the exercise of political power, by dividing 
 and distributing it into different depositories, 
 and constituting each the guardian of the 
 public weal against invasions by the others, 
 has been evinced by experiments ancient and 
 modern, some of them in our country and 
 under our own eyes. To preserve them must 
 be as necessary as to institute them. If, in 
 the opinion of the people, the distribution or 
 , modification of the constitutional powers be 
 ^^Bin any particular wrong, let it be corrected 
 by an amendment in the way which the Con- 
 stitution designates. . But let there be no 
 change by usurpation; for, though this, in 
 one instance, may be the instrument of good, 
 it is the customary weapon by which free 
 governments are destroyed. The precedent 
 must always greatly overbalance in perma- 
 nent evil any partial or transient benefit 
 which the use can at any time yield. 
 
 ^^Of all the dispositions and habits which 
 lead to political prosperity, religion and 
 morality are indispensable supports. In vain 
 would that man claim the tribute of patriot- 
 
30 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 ism, who should labor to subvert these great 
 pillars of human happiness, these firmest 
 props of the duties of men and citizens. The 
 mere politician equally with the pious man 
 ought to respect and to cherish them. A vol- 
 ume could not trace all their connections with 
 private and public felicity. Let it simply be 
 asked, Where is the security for property, for 
 reputation, for life, if the sense of religious 
 obligation desert the oaths, which are the in- 
 struments of investigation in courts of jus- 
 tice? And let us with caution indulge the 
 supposition that morality can be maintained 
 without religion. Whatever may be con- 
 ceded to the influence of refined education 
 on minds of peculiar structure, reason and 
 experience both forbid us to expect that na- 
 tional morality can prevail in exclusion of 
 religious principle. 
 
 *^It is substantially true that virtue or mor- 
 ality is a necessary spring of popular govern- 
 ment. The rule, indeed extends with more 
 or less force to every species of free govern- 
 ment. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 3 1 
 
 can look with indifference upon attempts to 
 shake the foundation of the fabric? 
 
 ^Tromote, then, as an object of primary 
 importance, institutions for the general diffu- 
 sion of knowledge. In proportion as the 
 structure of a government gives force to 
 public opinion, it is essential that public 
 opinion should be enlightened. 
 
 ^^As a very important source of strength 
 and security, cherish public credit. One 
 method of preserving it is, to use it as spar- 
 ingly as possible; avoiding occasions of ex- 
 pense by cultivating peace, but remembering 
 also that timely disbursements to prepare for 
 danger frequently prevent much greater dis- 
 bursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the 
 accumulation of debt, not only by shunning 
 occasions of expense, but by vigorous exer- 
 tion in time of peace to discharge the debts, 
 which unavoidable wars may have occa- 
 sioned, not ungenerously throwing upon pos- 
 terity the burden which we ourselves ought 
 to bear. The execution of these maxims be- 
 longs to your representatives, but it is neces- 
 
32 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 sary that public opinion should co-operate. 
 To facilitate to them the performance of 
 their duty it is essential that you should 
 practically bear in mind that towards the 
 payment of debts there must be revenue; 
 that to have revenue there must be taxes; 
 that no taxes can be devised which are not 
 more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; 
 that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable 
 from the selection of the proper objects 
 (which is always a choice of difficulties), 
 ought to be a decisive motive for a candid 
 construction of the conduct of the govern- 
 ment in making it, and for a spirit of acqui- 
 escence in the measures for obtaining revenue 
 which the public exigencies may at any time 
 dictate. 
 
 ^^Observe good faith and justice towards 
 all nations; cultivate peace and harmony 
 with all. Religion and morality enjoin this 
 conduct; and can it be that good policy 
 does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy 
 of a free, enlightened, and at no distant 
 period a great nation, to give to mankind the 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 33 
 
 magnanimous and too novel example of a 
 people always guided by an exalted justice 
 and benevolence. Who can doubt that in the 
 course of time and things, the fruits of such 
 a plan would richly repay any temporary 
 advantages, which might be lost by a steady 
 adherence to it? Can it be that Providence 
 has not connected the permanent felicity of 
 a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at 
 least, is recommended by every sentiment 
 which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it 
 rendered impossible by its vices? 
 
 ^^In the execution of such a plan, nothing 
 is more essential than that permanent, invet- 
 erate antipathies against particular nations, 
 and passionate attachments for others, should 
 be excluded; and that, in place of them, just 
 and amicable feelings towards all should be 
 cultivated. The nation which indulges to- 
 wards another an habitual hatred, or an habit- 
 ual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a 
 slave to its animosity or to its affection, either 
 of which is sufficient to lead it astray from 
 its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one 
 
34 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 nation against another disposes each more 
 readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold 
 of slight causes of umbrage, and to be 
 haughty and intractable when accidental or 
 trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, 
 frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and 
 bloody contests. The nation, prompted by 
 ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to 
 war the government, contrary to the best cal- 
 culations of policy. The government some- 
 times participates in the national propensity, 
 and adopts through passion what reason 
 would reject; at other times, it makes the 
 animosity of the nation subservient to pro- 
 jects of hostility instigated by pride, ambi- 
 tion, and other sinister and pernicious mo- 
 tives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps 
 the liberty, of nations has been the victim. 
 
 ^^So likewise, a passionate attachment of 
 one nation for another produces a variety of 
 evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, fa- 
 cilitating the illusion of an imaginary com- 
 mon interest in cases where no real common 
 interest exists, and infusing into one the en- 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 35 
 
 mities of the other, betrays the former into a 
 participation in the quarrels and wars of the 
 latter, without adequate inducement or justi- 
 fication. It leads also to concessions to the 
 favorite nation of privileges denied to others, 
 which is apt doubly to injure the nation mak- 
 ing the concessions, by unnecessarily parting 
 with what ought to have been retained, and 
 by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposi- 
 tion to retaliate, in the parties from whom 
 equal privileges are withheld. And it gives 
 to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens 
 (who devote themselves to the favorite na- 
 tion), facility to betray or sacrifice the inter- 
 ests of their own country, without odium, 
 sometimes even with popularity; gilding with 
 the appearances of a virtuous sense of obliga- 
 tion, a commendable deference for public 
 opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, 
 the base or foolish compliances of ambition, 
 corruption, or infatuation. 
 
 "As avenues to foreign influence in innum- 
 erable ways such attachments are particularly 
 alarming to the truly enlightened and inde- 
 
36 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 pendent patriot. How many opportunities do 
 they afford to tamper with domestic factions, 
 to practise the arts of seduction, to mislead 
 public opinion, to influence or awe public 
 councils! Such an attachment of a small or 
 weak, towards a great and powerful nation, 
 dooms the former to be the satellite of the 
 latter. 
 
 ^^Against the insidious wiles of foreign in- 
 fluence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow- 
 citizens), the jealousy of a free people ought 
 to be constantly awake, since history and ex- 
 perience prove that foreign influence is one 
 of the most baneful foes of republican gov- 
 ernment. But that jealousy, to be useful, must 
 be impartial; else it becomes the instrument 
 of the very influence to be avoided, instead of 
 a defence against it. Excessive partiality for 
 one foreign nation, and excessive dislike for 
 another, cause those whom they actuate to 
 see danger only on one side, and serve to 
 veil and even second the arts of influence 
 on the other. Real patriots who may resist 
 the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to be- 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 37 
 
 come suspected and odious; while its tools 
 and dupes usurp the applause and confidence 
 of the people, to surrender their interests. 
 
 *The great rule of conduct for us, in re- 
 gard to foreign nations, is, in extending our 
 commercial relations, to have with them as 
 little political connection as possible. So far 
 as we have already formed engagements, let 
 them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. 
 Here let us stop. 
 
 ^^Europe has a set of primary interests, 
 which to us have none, or a very remote re- 
 lation. Hence she must be engaged in fre- 
 quent controversies, the causes of which are 
 essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, 
 therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate 
 ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary 
 vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary 
 combinations and collisions of her friend- 
 ships or enmities. 
 
 *^Our detached and distant situation invites 
 and enables us to pursue a different course. 
 If we remain one people, under an efficient 
 government, the period is not far off when 
 
38 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 we may defy material injury from external 
 annoyance; when we may take such an atti- 
 tude as will cause the neutrality, we may at 
 any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously 
 respected; when belligerent nations, under the 
 impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, 
 will not lightly hazard the giving us provo- 
 cation ; when we may choose peace or war, as 
 our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel. 
 
 ^^Why forego the advantages of so peculiar 
 a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon 
 foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our 
 destiny with that of any part of Europe, en- 
 tangle our peace and prosperity in the toils 
 of European ambition, rivalship, interest, 
 humor, or caprice? 
 
 ^^It is our true policy to steer clear of per- 
 manent alliances with any portion of the for- 
 eign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at 
 liberty to do it; for let me not be understood 
 as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing 
 engagements. I hold the maxim no less ap- 
 plicable to public than to private affairs, that 
 honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it. 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 39 
 
 therefore, let those engagements be observed 
 in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it 
 is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend 
 them. 
 
 ^Taking care always to keep ourselves, by 
 suitable establishments, on a respectable de- 
 fensive posture, we may safely trust to tem- 
 porary alliances for extraordinary emergen- 
 cies. 
 
 ^^Harmony, liberal intercourse with all na- 
 tions, are recommended by policy, humanity, 
 and interest. But even our commercial policy 
 should hold an equal and impartial hand; 
 neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors 
 or preferences; consulting the natural course 
 of things ; diffusing and diversifying by gentle 
 means the streams of commerce, but forcing 
 nothing; establishing with powers so dis- 
 posed, in order to give trade a stable course, 
 to define the rights of our merchants, and to 
 enable the government to support them, con- 
 ventional rules of intercourse, the best that 
 present circumstances and mutual opinion 
 will permit, but temporary, and liable to be 
 
40 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 from time to time abandoned or varied, as 
 experience and circumstances shall dictate; 
 constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in 
 one nation to look for disinterested favors 
 from another; that it must pay with a por- 
 tion of its independence for whatever it may 
 accept under that character; that, by such 
 acceptance, it may place itself in the condi- 
 tion of having given equivalents for nominal 
 favors, and yet of being reproached with in- 
 gratitude for not giving more. There can be 
 no greater error than to expect or calculate 
 upon real favors from nation to nation. It is 
 an illusion, which experience must cure, 
 which a just pride ought to discard. 
 
 ^*In offering to you, my countrymen, these 
 counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I 
 dare not hope they will make the strong and 
 lasting impression I could wish; that they 
 will control the usual current of the passions, 
 or prevent our nation from running the course 
 which has hitherto marked the destiny of na- 
 tions. But, if I may even flatter myself that 
 they may be productive of some partial bene- 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 4 1 
 
 fit, some occasional good; that they may now 
 and then recur to moderate the fury of party 
 spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of for- 
 eign intrigue, to guard against the impostures 
 of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a 
 full recompense for the solicitude for your 
 welfare, by which they have been dictated. 
 
 ^^How far in the discharge of my official 
 duties I have been guided by the principles 
 which have been delineated, the public rec- 
 ords and other evidences of my conduct must 
 witness to you and to the world. To myself, 
 the assurance of my own conscience is, that 
 I have at least believed myself to be guided 
 by them. 
 
 ^^In relation to the still subsisting war in 
 Europe, my proclamation of the 22d of 
 April, 1793, is the index of my plan. Sanc- 
 tioned by your approving voice, and by that 
 of your Representatives in both Houses of 
 Congress, the spirit of that measure has con- 
 tinually governed me, uninfluenced by any 
 attempts to deter or divert me from it. 
 
42 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 ^^After deliberate examination, with the aid 
 of the best lights I could obtain, I was well 
 satisfied that our country, under all the cir- 
 cumstances of the case, had a right to take, 
 and was bound in duty and interest to take, a 
 neutral position. Having taken it, I determ- 
 ined, as far as should depend upon me, to 
 maintain it, with moderation, perseverance 
 and firmness. 
 
 ^The considerations which respect the 
 right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary 
 on this occasion to detail. I will only ob- 
 serve, that, according to my understanding of 
 the matter, that right, so far from being de- 
 nied by any of the belligerent powers, has 
 been virtually admitted by all. 
 
 ^The duty of holding a neutral conduct 
 may be inferred, without anything more, 
 from the obligation which justice and hu- 
 manity impose on every nation, in cases in 
 which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate 
 the relations of peace and amity towards 
 other nations. 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 43 
 
 ^The inducements of interest for observing 
 that conduct will best be referred to your 
 own reflections and experience. With me a 
 predominant motive has been to endeavor to 
 gain time to our country to settle and mature 
 its yet recent institutions, and to progress 
 without interruption to that degree of strength 
 and consistency which is necessary to give it, 
 humanly speaking, the command of its own 
 fortunes. 
 
 ^^Though, in reviewing the incidents of my 
 administration, I am unconscious of inten- 
 tional error, I am nevertheless too sensible 
 of my defects not to think it probable that I 
 may have committed many errors. Whatever 
 they may be, I fervently beseech the Al- 
 mighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which 
 they may tend. I shall also carry with me 
 the hope that my country will never cease to 
 view them with indulgence; and that, after 
 forty-five years of my life dedicated to its 
 service with an upright zeal, the faults of 
 incompetent abilities will be consigned to 
 
44 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 oblivion, as myself must soon be to the man- 
 sions of rest. 
 
 ^^Relying on its kindness in this as in other 
 things, and actuated by that fervent love to- 
 v^ards it, which is so natural to a man who 
 views in it the native soil of himself and his 
 progenitors for several generations, I antici- 
 pate with pleasing expectation that retreat in 
 which I promise myself to realize, without 
 alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in 
 the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign 
 influence of good laws under a free govern- 
 ment, the ever favorite object of my heart, 
 and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mu- 
 tual cares, labors, and dangers. 
 
 ^'George Washington.'' 
 
 A singular story has arisen to the effect that 
 the foregoing address was written by Alexan- 
 der Hamilton, and merely delivered by 
 Washington. In 1841, Professor McVickar, 
 of Columbia College, called upon John Jay, 
 the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 
 of the United States, and asked him about 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 45 
 
 the story. Jay replied that Washington had 
 submitted the address to Hamilton and him- 
 self for suggestions; and that ^^not wishing 
 to spoil Washington's fair manuscript, they 
 had made their notes (only a few) on a 
 copy which was made by Hamilton for the 
 purpose. Jay concluded thus: ^^My opinion, 
 my dear sir; you shall freely have. I have al- 
 ways thought General Washington compe- 
 tent to write his own addresses." 
 
 The personality of Washington does not 
 suffer with the lapse of time. He is like a 
 great mountain, which grows higher and 
 higher, and broader and broader, as one puts 
 mile after mile between one's self and its base. 
 The forests and foothills which hide its top 
 on nearer view, melt and sink into the general 
 mass, until nothing is left but one great 
 towering, majestic peak, crowned with eter- 
 nal snows, which so dominates the scene that 
 one can neither think of, nor look at any- 
 thing else. Such was Washington. The men 
 of his time who fought and struggled and 
 schemed and hoped and feared, have sunk 
 
46 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 into the oblivion, from which they came ; and 
 the few really great names left serve only to 
 make manifest the greater greatness of Wash- 
 ington himself. He is a colossal figure in 
 the history of his country. He is a colossal 
 figure in the history of the Anglo-Saxon race; 
 a colossal figure in the history of the world. 
 
 Lecky, the great English historian, says of 
 Washington : 
 
 ^^In civil as in military life he was pre- 
 eminent among his contemporaries for the 
 clearness and soundness of his judgment, for 
 his perfect moderation and self-control, for 
 the quiet dignity and the indomitable firm- 
 ness with which he pursued every path which 
 he had deliberately chosen. Of all the great 
 men in history, he was the most invariably 
 judicious, and there is scarcely a rash word 
 or action recorded of him." 
 
 Washington entered upon his first term as 
 the head of a people who were far from be- 
 ing united. The country was an aggregation 
 of thirteen jealous, and more or less selfish 
 states. The forces of disruption, — what 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 47 
 
 might be called the centrifugal tendencies — 
 nearly balanced those which held us together. 
 He strove to make us really a nation. The 
 work he started went forward slowly at first, 
 and for many years thereafter; but the great 
 Civil War of 1861 showed that it was nearly 
 done. Our grandfathers had come to love 
 the Constitution with a feeling which 
 amounted almost to religious devotion. Lin- 
 coln voiced the feeling of the North when he 
 said it was his duty to save the Union; that 
 he would save it either with slavery or with- 
 out slavery, as he might, but that he would 
 save the Union. Then came the long, heart- 
 rending strain of war; disaster after disaster, 
 [and victory at last in the West, where Grant 
 captured Vicksburg, and in the East, where 
 the Confederacy went down in irretrievable 
 ruin at Gettysburg, both on the same day. 
 The Emancipation Proclamation soon fol- 
 lowed. It was at Gettysburg that Lincoln 
 delivered his greatest speech. Never has so 
 much been said in so few words. It is as 
 follows : 
 
48 american political classics 
 
 The Gettysburg Speech. 
 
 'Tourscore and seven years ago our fathers 
 brought forth on this continent a new nation, 
 conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the 
 proposition that all men are created equal. 
 
 ^^Now we are engaged in a great civil war, 
 testing wliether that nation, or any nation so 
 conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. 
 We are met on a great battlefield of that war. 
 We have come to dedicate a portion of that 
 field as a final resting-place for those who 
 here gave their lives that that nation might 
 live. It is altogether fitting and proper that 
 we should do this. 
 
 *^But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate 
 — we cannot consecrate — we canhbt hallow—' 
 
 this ground. The brave men, living and 
 dead, who struggled here, have consecrated 
 it far above our poor power to add or de- 
 tract. The world will little note nor long 
 remember what we say here, but it can never 
 forget what they did here. It is for us, the 
 living, rather, to be dedicated here to the 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 49 
 
 unfinished work which they who fought here 
 have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather 
 for us to be here dedicated to the great task 
 remaining before us — that from these honored 
 dead we take increased devotion to that 
 cause for which they gave the last full meas- 
 ure of devotion ; that we here highly resolve 
 that these dead shall not have died in vain; 
 that this nation, under God, shall have a new 
 birth of freedom; and that government of the 
 people, by the people, for the people, shall not 
 perish from the earth." 
 
 It is related that after Lincoln had ceased 
 to speak perfect silence reigned. Not a 
 sound came from the great audience. Sick 
 at heart, he returned to Washington. He felt 
 that he had not touched his hearers with the 
 fire of patriotism which burned within him. 
 But the next day came a letter of warm com- 
 mendation from Edward Everett, to which 
 Lincoln replied that he was happy to know 
 that his address '^was not entirely a failure." 
 Then came a flood of letters and a chorus of 
 enthusiastic praise from the press, and Lin- 
 
50 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 coin knew that he had made one of the 
 speeches of all ages. The mystery was solved. 
 He had found the very heart of his audience. 
 Awe-struck, they had heard the words of one 
 inspired. Applause seemed sacrilege. 
 
 But the weary war went on. The Confed- 
 eracy had been mortally wounded at Vicks- 
 burg and Gettysburg — the end was certain, 
 but much hard fighting remained. In 1864 
 Lincoln came up for re-election, and carried 
 all before him. It was upon March 4th of 
 the following year that he delivered another 
 masterpiece. It was 
 
 Lincoln's Second Inaugural. 
 
 He said: 
 
 "Fellow-countrymen: At this second ap- 
 pearing to take the oath of the presidential 
 office, there is less occasion for an extended 
 address than there was at the first. Then a 
 statement, somewhat in detail, of a course to 
 be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, 
 at the expiration of four years, during which 
 public declarations have been constantly 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 5 1 
 
 called forth on every point and phase of the 
 great contest which still absorbs the attention 
 and engrosses the energies of the nation, little 
 that is new could be presented. The progress 
 of our arms, upon which all else chiefly de- 
 pends, is as well known to the public as to 
 myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satis- 
 factory and encouraging to all. With high 
 hope for the future, no prediction in regard 
 to it is ventured. 
 
 ^^On the occasion, corresponding to this, 
 four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously 
 directed to an impending civil war. All 
 dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the 
 inaugural address was being delivered from 
 this place, devoted altogether to saving the 
 Union without war, insurgent agents were in 
 the city seeking to destroy it without war — 
 seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide ef- 
 fects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated 
 war; but one of them would make war rather 
 than let the nation survive; and the other 
 would accept war rather than let it perish. 
 And the war came. 
 
52 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 ^^One-eighth of the whole population were 
 colored slaves, not distributed generally over 
 the Union, but localized in the southern part 
 of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and 
 powerful interest. All knew that this inter- 
 est was, somehow, the cause of the war. To 
 strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this inter- 
 est was the object for which the insurgents 
 would rend the Union, even by war; while 
 the government claimed no right to do more 
 than to restrict the territorial enlargement of 
 it. 
 
 ^^Neither party expected for the war the 
 magnitude or the duration which it has al- 
 ready attained. Neither anticipated that the 
 cause of the conflict might cease with, or even 
 before, the conflict itself should cease. Each 
 looked for an easier triumph, and a result 
 less fundamental and astounding. Both read 
 the same Bible, and pray to the same God; 
 and each invokes his aid against the other. 
 It may seem strange that any men should 
 dare to ask a just God's assistance in wring- 
 ing their bread from the sweat of other men's 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 53 
 
 ^faces; but let us judge not, that we be not 
 judged. The prayers of both could not be 
 answered — that of neither has been answered 
 fully. 
 
 ^The Almighty has his own purposes. 
 Woe unto the world because of offenses! for 
 it must needs be that offenses come; but woe 
 to that man by whom the offense cometh.' 
 If we shall suppose that American slavery is 
 one of those offenses which, in the providence 
 of God, must needs come, but which, having 
 continued through His appointed time, he 
 now wills to remove, and that he gives to 
 both North and South this terrible war, as 
 the woe due to those by whom the offense 
 came, shall we discern therein any departure 
 from those divine attributes which the be- 
 lievers in a living God always ascribe to him? 
 Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — 
 that this mighty scourge of war may speedily 
 pass away. Yet, if God wills, that it continue 
 until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's 
 two hundred and fifty years of unrequited 
 toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of 
 
54 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by 
 another drawn with the sword, as was said 
 three thousand years ago, so still it must be 
 said, The judgments of the Lord are true 
 and righteous altogether.' 
 
 ^ With malice tow^ard none ; with charity for 
 all ; with firmness in the right, as God gives 
 us to see the right, let us strive on to finish 
 the work we are in; to bind up the nation's 
 wounds; to care for him who shall have 
 borne the battle, and for his widow, and his 
 orphan — to do all which may achieve and 
 cherish a just and lasting peace among our- 
 selves, and with all nations." 
 
 The foregoing public utterances may be 
 called the American Political Classics. It 
 would be difficult to match them in any other 
 language. They come from men who were 
 pre-eminent in their services to the Constitu- 
 tion. That great document is the charter of 
 our liberties. Like the ten commandments, 
 it is as true today as it was when written. It 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 55 
 
 was not a discovery, but a statement of truths 
 which had gradually dawned upon the world 
 during the lapse of ages. It was the logical 
 result of Magna Charta, which had been ex- 
 torted from King John five hundred and 
 seventy years before. 
 
 The keynote of that constitution and the 
 government which was organized under it, is 
 that the individual shall be left the utmost 
 liberty of personal action which is consistent 
 with the safety of society. The sphere of the 
 state is to be restricted to the greatest extent 
 compatible with an effective government. 
 
 Under this system we have had all the 
 liberty of the primitive man, and also the ad- 
 vantages of an orderly society. The Ameri- 
 can has developed an energy, self-reliance, 
 resourcefulness and power of prompt organi- 
 zation not equaled by any other race. We 
 have met every crisis in our history, and have 
 won against obstacles which would have been 
 fatal to any nation except our Anglo-Saxon 
 cousins. The last world war was brought to 
 a triumphant close; but it was not by our 
 
56 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 government, but by the American People 
 who rose as one man to prevent the success 
 of the most gigantic criminal conspiracy in 
 the history of the world. Soldiers drawn by 
 conscription speedily become animated by 
 the spirit of volunteers. They learned in six 
 months the art of war which it took Euro- 
 peans two years to acquire. Citizens earn- 
 ing salaries of thousands gave up their posi- 
 tions to serve their country for a dollar a 
 year. And we won. This all came from the 
 manly independence of character which was 
 developed by a Constitution which gave 
 every man an opportunity to develop along 
 his own lines and make the most of himself. 
 Such a constitution is worth preserving. 
 President McKinley said of it: 
 
 "The constitution is a sacred instrument 
 and a sacred trust. It is given to us to see 
 to it that it is preserved in all its virtue and 
 vigor, and passed on to generations yet to 
 come." 
 
 But free though our country is, and excel- 
 lent though our constitution, both have ene- 
 
AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 57 
 
 mies. We are too strong to be attacked from 
 without if we keep ourselves in a reasonable 
 state of preparation. Our enemies are among 
 us. They are men who have come here to 
 better their condition and not from a love of 
 our country; men who hated the government 
 which they left because they had suffered 
 galling tyranny, and who do not realize that 
 they need not fear it here. It was the bullet 
 of an assassin of this class which put an end 
 to the life of McKinley. Their ranks are 
 swelled by many among us who have failed 
 in life because of their own deficiencies, but 
 blame society for their failure. These are 
 our enemies within. They preach the gospel 
 of discontent and hatred of the existing order 
 of things. By revolution and the bomb, they 
 would overthrow everything, hoping to profit 
 by some new system which they have not 
 worked out, even in their own minds. They 
 set all laws at defiance. 
 
 The rock upon which our country is found- 
 ed is the law-abiding spirit of the people. 
 As the people — by their representatives in the 
 
58 AMERICAN POLITICAL CLASSICS 
 
 various legislatures — make the laws, the peo- 
 ple must obey them until they shall have been 
 lawfully changed. Otherwise the republic is 
 at an end. So said Lincoln. To use the 
 words of Washington: ^The basis of our 
 political systems is the right of the people to 
 make and to alter their constitutions of gov- 
 ernment But the constitution which at any 
 time exists, till changed by the explicit and 
 authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly 
 obligatory upon all. The very idea of the 
 power and the right of the people to establish 
 governments presupposes the duty of every 
 individual to obey the established govern- 
 ment." 
 
 The reason why Mexico is now, and will 
 long remain in a state of anarchy, is because 
 no one feels bound to obey the law if it be 
 in any way inconvenient to him. The same 
 is true of the countries to the south of that 
 unhappy land. The governments of all of 
 them are as unstable as the sands. Ours has 
 always shown a gratifying contrast, because 
 our people have always been self-restrained 
 
AMERICAN PCLITIGAL CLASSiCS ' 59 
 
 by this law-abiding sentiment. If Mexico 
 could be converted to that state of feeling, 
 she would have a sound and safe government 
 and a happy people within a year. There- 
 fore, let us obey the law, because it is the law, 
 because we have too much self-respect to be 
 law-breakers. Let us put down firmly every 
 man, every organization and every party 
 which preaches any other doctrine. Let us 
 insist that the ballot box be the sole method 
 of settling disputes. The American people 
 are honest and just; and every well-founded 
 grievance is sure to be remedied in the end. 
 So shall our beloved country be preserved 
 and move onward in its course until our des- 
 tiny shall be reached and won and made 
 secure. 
 
 THE END 
 
I 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY