GROUNDS AND MOTIVES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Not revolution in the European sense, but restoration, or reconstruc- tion of political society. Independence not sought by the Colonies, but forced upon them. A nation defined. The Colonies had all the attributes of a nation. Preliminary Congresses. Dignity and influence of the Revolution. Proximate causes. Unjust taxation. Reply to "The Westminster Review." " 'Stamp Act" but a sign of a principle, like Tetzel's sale of indulgences. The "town-meeting" the equivalent of the Teutonic Gemeinde. Franklin's examination before Parliament. Religion in America a training for liberty. John Robinson and his teachings. The pious yeomanry of New England. Dr. Emmons. Local government. Boston "Tea-Party." First stand at Lexington and Concord. Battle of Bunker Hill. DOCTRINES OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. Signers of the Declaration. Not doctrinaires. Many men of profes- sional training. Their work has stood. No going back to mon- archy. The grand syllogism of the Declaration. Principles to be balanced with each other. The Declaration a testimony against materialism. Equality of men as the spiritual offspring of God. Their right to the free use of their powers, and the full enjoyment of happiness. Government must secure these ends. Suffrage and official place not natural rights. Views of Jefferson. John Stuart Mill. Liberty and government not ends in themselves, but means to a higher end. The right of revolution. The conditions that define and limit it. False notions of French revolutionists. Rea- sons why the French Revolution failed; mainly the lack of ethical grounds. The indictments of the Declaration against the King of V Difference between the constitution of a nation and a national consti- tution. Laboulaye on the Constitution of the United States. The first government extemporized. The second a confederation of States. Why this failed. The plan impossible in America. Anxi- ety of Washington, Madison, and other patriots. Need of a strong government. Views of Hamilton. The breaking up of the Confed- eracy imminent. Shays's Rebellion. The Federal Convention of 1787. Ability of its members. Their fidelity in their work. Wis- dom in dealing with slavery and confederacy. Grand results in harmonizing local government with supreme national authority, and in equalizing the States under a government by the people. Washington as General and President; the typical man of his age; the embodiment of the American idea; contrasted with Frederic THE NATION TESTED BY THE VICISSITUDES OF A CENTURY. Its Constitution the great contribution of modern times to the science of government. It has survived the test of party-spirit, of section- alism, of foreign war, of financial crises, of territorial expansion, of promiscuous immigration, of threatened disintegration with civil war, and the assassination of the Head of the State. No other government has endured so many and so great vicissitudes with The life of a nation not estimated by length of years, but by what the years have accomplished. The United States contrasted with Rus- sia, France, and Germany. Physical development not material- istic. Reply to Carlyle and Dickens. Case of California. Progress in education, science, letters, and arts. Church-life. Power of the voluntary principle. Inventions serviceable to mankind, — light- ning-rod, cotton-gin, compound blow-pipe, steamboat, telegraph with Atlantic cable, anaesthetics, sewing-machine, writing-machine, reaping and mowing machines, fog-signals, &c. Institutions for THE PERILS, DUTIES, AND HOPES OF THE OPENING CENTURY. Luxury and corruption. These not peculiar to a republic. Russia, Turkey, Persia, Austria, Italy, France. Examples from earlier times. Risks of universal suffrage. Race animosities. Political centralization. Ultramontane schemes. Resources in the intelli- gence, morality, and patriotism of the people; in the fact that the government, while fixed in principles, is flexible and improvable in forms. Need of improved civil service, of the cumulative ballot, of an educational test, and of training for the higher statesmanship. Future of the republic assured in the character of the people. TH HOW THIS BOOK GREW. as HESE Lectures are published in obedience to the call of the audiences that listened to them in Berlin, Dresden, Florence, Paris, and London.' Those audiences comprised many persons of the highest condition and culture in Germany, Italy, France, and England, -statesmen, jurists, diplomatists, professors, authors, divines, well as the chief representatives of American society in the great capitals of Europe. An auditory so diversified and so distinguished must have satisfied the ambition of any lecturer: but I am more proud to recognize their attendance as a compliment to my country; and most heartily do I thank my honored hearers for their earnest interest in the unfolding of American national life, and for their flattering request that the facts presented from the platform might again be laid before them in the more leisurely form of the printed page. When I announced a course of lectures on the " Origin and Development of the United States as a Nation," to be given in the hearing of Europeans, some of my countrymen were of opinion, that, in the painful aspect of public affairs at home, it were better that Americans abroad should say or do nothing that should call attention to their country, already the subject of so much adverse criticism. There were those, even, who went so far as to say that they preferred not to be known as Americans, and would gladly exchange their nativity for that of an Englishman, a Frenchman, or a German. Though I re 1 See Publishers' Note, p. 312. 2 When Schopenhauer, the German pessimist, was in Italy, he was accustomed to decry his country in presence of his French and English acquaintances. "The German fatherland," said he, "has reared no patriot in me. I am ashamed to be a German, they are so stupid a people.' A Frenchman once replied, "If I thought so of my nation, I should at least hold my tongue about it." spected the former feeling as much as I despised the latter, I could not entertain it under the peculiar conditions of the Centennial year. "America is under a cloud," said some to whom I was ready to listen with deference; and the less that is said of her, the better. Till these disgraceful exposures are forgotten, we must hide our heads in silence, and trust to vindicate our country by deeds rather than by words." My answer was, "I do not seek to give publicity to my country abroad, nor would I in any way obtrude her institutions and history upon the notice of foreigners. But the publicity exists: she herself has given the occasion. The Centennial and the Exposition have drawn the eyes of the world upon her; and, though there may be in some quarters a relish for the political scandal just now so rife, there will be among thoughtful men a readiness to review the history and experience of a nation, that, in its first century, has taken rank with the first powers of the world. My purpose is to deal with my country in the candid spirit of historical criticism; and history, and, above all, the philosophy of history, is what no lover of truth and of man should fear to unfold. Besides, if my country is under a cloud, shall I skulk behind that cloud, and, in the day of her calamity, seek to hide my nativity? There are Americans of whom I am ashamed; but I am not ashamed of America. There are things in America for which I blush; but I do not blush to own myself an American. If my country is dishonored, brave and manly words for her may be heroic deeds. Pulchrum est benefacere Reipublicæ, etiam bene dicere haud absurdum est. All that I am I owe to my country. My training was in her schools. My knowledge, faith, principles, whatever I value as a man, whatever makes manhood of value to me, I have learned of her. She shall have from me no wavering allegiance. Where my country is right, I shall stand for her against the world; where she is wrong, I shall stand by her, and labor to correct the wrong, and bring her to the right again. And, above all, if there are wrongs in her that are not of her, it is my sacred duty as a patriot and a Christian to separate the good from the evil, and show the inherent purity, dignity, and strength of the E 1 |