The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1854-12-02
"AMERICANIsM.'

kened TO many separate springs and wheels when,
when put together appropriately in refined system OF
civil polity, revolve in harmony and evolve out OF inc
seeming medley greater happiness to greater number than
is possible under any other system tins evolution OF
happiness mankind be not the consequence ana Tue
of the American government then we should os
card it, of the mouldy rcketty, laggard govern
mental failures which vanished in the rearward and
abysm of time That the tangled notions OF Amerl-
cansmD would make it So is proposition plainly proven
by their nature, and by the history of our country.
We cannot take retrospect of annals and hnd
single incident which would favor these new notions
that have become potential in American pohucs
within the last few months Beginning with the time
when the idea of reaching Cathay by the west hrt oa
ed in ndistine though golden mist before the vision
of the Genoese, down to the present time, when, III
the language of Edward Everett ave have become the
amoner of than imperial bounty, ana the
home for fugitive of the world there is not
factsape one-which does not frown upon the newly
started ideas of so-caed Americanism Saue one! The
federal legislation of the time of the Elder
afterwards disayowed by him in his 'e and writings
by which, on suspicion only, aliens might be orcbly
driven from this land and to extraordinary pains
and penalties has been conspicuous exception to our
policy as hitherto to been used only example
to deter pattern to initiate until this noon OF
the nineteenth century. This justly infamous federal act
was crystazed legislation from the eervescing aris-
tocracy which had all been precptated in the revou
ton was thoroughly reprobated by the Kentucky
resolutions 1885, drawn by Jefferson, most thoroughly
met by the intrepid democracy of that day, and most
thoroughly defeated in the bitter contests which followed
The mind which conceived the Declaration of Independence
and which by phosophc research had cleared away the
rubbish precedent and prescription could not brook the
of that legislation which would ether spirit
within narrow round, and exclude from the enjoyment
of our institutions the millions who would thereafter
| seek America their home Jefferson perceived the
composite character of this great people, which was
to be- He had pondered what Bancroft has expressed
in his late oraonhat land while this side the
Aleghanies gives the western nations of Europe the
atre the renewal of their YOUTH the ransmontane
side hoary civilization of the farthest antiquity leans
from receive tho glad dngs of the
of freedom Colonel Benton, in his "Thirty Years. for
once sinks his stupendous egotsm while he claims for Mr.
jefferson the merit of having foreseen our Pacific great
ness for while at Paris before the beginning of this
fury he made arrangements for the exploration of our Pa
cifc territory as the future home the smng millions
Of the Orient To his prophetic eye the western slopes of
the Rocky mountains and valleys of the which
uoWu tooc SloIeS "eie PcoPicu
races from very Cathay which Columbus had hoped
reach by sailing westward The interest taken by Mr. JEFF
erson the Subsequent explorations of Lewis and Clarke
the result of that phlosophic forecast which Mr. Jeer
son possessed in SO wonderful degree
| 1t prompture of anagonism to the
federal party, which led to oppose all legislation which
would abrdge blessings check destiny
He saw that true Amercanism not repulsive
but afhliatvc eclectic 1t copied that highest reach
of art which, from many models, educod the perfect
type-whch from divers disturbances educed comely
concordance" 1t copied that Christian spirit whose
vincuum of brotherhood vbrated to the sentiments
of an unexcusive democracy Jefferson that here
alone be practically illustrated the sublime fact that
there unity of interest, feeling, and destiny in the
human kind. He what Bancroft has reflected in the
magic mirror of his eloquence, that our land not
the recipient of the of all countries than of their
ideas Annihate the past of any leading nation of
| the world and destiny would have been changed.
Italy and SPAIN in the persons Of Columbus and Isabella
joined together for the great discovery that opened America
for emigration and commerce France contributed its
independence the search for the origin of the language
we speak carries to India religion is from Pales
tine of the hymns sung in churches first
heard in Italy, in the deserts Of Arabia, the
banks of the Euphrates arts come from Greece
jurisprudence from Rome maritime code from Rus
sia England taught the system of representative gov
ernment; the noble republic of the United Provinces be-
queathed in the world of thought the prolific prn
cipe of federal union Our country stands therefore,
than any other the realization of the unity of the
race
Where is the Americansm Of all this Babel of tongues
ange of ideas of and confusion of systems
asks the native he turns in his petty pride of birth
place. and orges that the soul of manhood knows local
tyl Where indeed If not in the blending Of the many
tinted phases Of the varied civilizations which time and
sacrifices have furnished for exquisite Mosaic? 1t
is the absorption ofa the genuine ideas of the of every
cline and time with rejection of their hoary and
the remedy of their nveterate wrongs which make our
American government what Lord Brougham called it, Hthe
greatest refinement in civil poy which the world has
SEEM" Our nationality is brightest because it radiates
from every point and illumines whatever worthy Our
highest glory is that spirit beats in the heart well
thinks with the head and other nationality can ever
allure the world liberty by the beauty of its example,
With such large roundabout sense and COM
heart at the basis Of veal could it well
be otherwise than that laws should abolish all the dis
tnctions of sect caste nobility and brth2 Standing
the threshold of history might have inferred
prior that Christian Jew, and Pagan Protestant Cath
oc Of every shade Of belief popularity of ritual should
find in America if not a common altar q common regis