Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1847-07-14
CRATIC N !,

GRAFTON,
Delivered at the Capitol in Ioua City, on
he srd day Of July, ls47.
BY A. w. SWEET, ESQ.
A thrill Of joy gladdens the hearts Of twenty
million Of American citizens, as the thunder OF
.hnrdred thousand cannon echo and re- ho from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Lake Supe-
rior TO the Gulf Of Mexico, to usher in the dawn
Of the seventy-frst anniversary OF our national
;ndepence. This day seventy-one years since
nation was born, and the first mighty impetus
was given TO the progress of liberty, by declaring
and definitely stating some of the prominent
rights of man !" that all men are created equal,
that they have the right to life, liberty, and the
means Of securing happiness" The rights We're
declared to be inalienable, and to their defence
and establishment were pleged the olives, the
fortunes and the sacred honors," OF those who
had neryed themselves to the task Of offering hope
TO benighted and suffering humanity.
Many they are who have shone forth In the
bright galaxy Of the great the brave and the good,
and it will be useless now to occupy time IN pro-
nouncing eulogy npon the names II the mighty
dead. Though dead they yet live; and nought
that could now say would add one gem to then
coronets Their names are enrolled upon the re-
cords of the race; their deeds stand teaching a
lesson to those who come after them. Although
they done little mora than to ONT out the great
landmarks by which we are to be governed, we
have continued to progress in the path marked
out by them, and to day the Star Spangled Ban
ner proudly waves its folds over country en-
bracing two and a half millions of square miles,
ard while it floats from half million spires, it
is famed by the ascending aspirations OF CRATE
full and intelligent people, who will ever remem-
Der those who fought and bled for liberty, and
who will ever stand ready to take up the watch
word, and let it echo and re-echo from valley to
hill and from hill to mountain top, until man is
aroused from the slumber of ages and awakens to
sense Of his rights and privileges.
From nonentity, as nation, we have IN the
short period Of seventy-one years become great
and mighty people we have far ou.stripped ma
nv of the older and long established nations OF
the old world, and like dutiful children, though
kicked and spurned by the nation from whom
we sprung, when the cry of distress from her il
waited to us across the Atlantic, every purse
string is oosed to grant supplies in time of need,
and When meagre famine, blowing mildew from
between its shrivelled lips, as with CHASTITY smiles
It crawls abroad and sends forth its feeble cry"
that cry is heard-nct only heard but promptly
relieved. We have done this, aye more, we have
solved the problem, 6 is man capable OF sell 60
yernment?o and all now are compelled to &C
knowledge that there is power, truth, puri-
ty, in the great principles of government now
presented that will carry them to the hearts OF
men.
But in the height of our prosperity It will be
well for us occasionally to look back to what we
once were, lest the full measure of our gratitude
be wanting. Three hundred and fifty-fve years
ago and this country was unknown, save to the
aborigines who appeared to have progressed, in
the requirement Of knowledge, as little as the
untamed beasts OF the forest which were their fit
companions.
The night of the 18th of October, 1892, the cry
Ga light light !" was the joyful exclamation
which aroused world from its slumber ofigno-
rance, and " Westward no! ~ all eyes are turned.
A light % was the first cry that simultaneously
burst from the lips Of man when first this mighty
continent greeted his vision. A. light! how pro-
phetic that exclamation. Yes, light it was, and
is, and will ever continue to be SO long as we
prove not recreant to every principle taught us
by our forefathers. A light to the whole world
has beamed forth-a leader to the nations-a
bright star from which graduates beam that all
the nations of the earth may hail us a beacon
light to their PATH that will conduct them TO that
elevation upon which is seated truth, clothed in
all the majesty of her own intrinsic purity, and
which becons man on to that destiny which
A light breaks forth and reveals new world,
clothed with new variety of vegetation, sup
piled with new species Of animals, and peopled
with new race Of men all that that light re-
vealed was then new, and still it continues to
present new light, and to shed forth brighter
and brighter radiance upon still increasing area,
and will sooner or later cause all mankind to rest
under the extended branches Of the tree Of know
ledge and liberty.
In 1907 Virginia was first settled, but so weak
were the infant settlements, and so slow their
increase that in 1885, eighty years after, they
only numbered 10000 inhabitants. Massachu-
sets was first settled in 1920, and ten years after
numbered only 300 inhabitants. From these
small beginnings we may trace our origin as a
people, and here are to be found the germs of
those equal and republican feelings which are
our peculiar national characteristics. 1t was
here they gerninated amid the gloomy forests Of
the new world-it was here that sturdy virtue,
that iron purpose Of soul was nurtured and ma
tured itself and on the fourth day of July, 1776,
as by mandate, hurled the purple clad tyrant
from his throne in America forever, and caused
nation to spring up in the wilds of North Anne
rica-a nation from that period exists, though
weak In every thing but that intellectual strength
and vigor which gives mind its ascendency over
matter. Thirteen colonies, numbering about
three millions of inhabitants we then were.
Thirty free and sovereign States, with a popula-
ton OF more than twenty-five millions, we now
are; with all the resources necessary for free,
vlrtuous and intelligent people. How then
should our hearts expand with gratitude to the
Author of all good for the privileges we now
enjoy.
None, we hope, will accuse us of egotism il
we say Of ourselves as nation that none equal
US in intellectual and scientific requirements, and
IN all that elevates men. And why should we
not excel other nations? Here nature has done
every thing upon the largest scale-America has
the greatest mountains, rivers and lakes of any
other country on earth: in fine, all the similar
works Of nature in other countries. here anpcar
to be multiplied in four fold proportion. and
mind must to a great extent partake Of that ex-
tended and increased scale which characterizes
every thing common to North America.
The noblest employ Of any pen is to deye!ope
facts which illustrate the progress OF the human
mind. The age has passed away when the re-
cord Of the operations of brute force, even when
presented in the fascinating garb of military
achievements. could be dwelt upon with feelings
of mingled satisfaction and delight. The slauph.
ter of man by his fellow man, the coasigning o.
cities to the flames, the substituting of the cries
OF the widow and the orphan, for the smiles Of
domestic peace, are deeds which civilized ma.
tons would now be well content to oblterate