Freeman's champion., 1858-06-17
National Progress of America.

more than the numerical increase
We mean their rapid advance in prac-
tical power; in skill, intelligence,
and adaptation; in fertility ofthought'
expansiveness of sentiment, grandeur
Of enterprise. This progress is the
lesson Of the United States to thu
world. No one can fail to see tn
bearing of our political in titutionSI
on this result, bat, nevertheless, it is
an indirect bearing. There is no nee
eSsary connection between demo cracy
and worldly success. Men may be
republicans, and yet have no special
sagacity in acquiring wealth. Our
civil government has put us in a po-
Sition to exercise whatever abilities
we possess to the best advantage, and
protected us in the enjoyments OF our
rights. Its Offices, moreover, have
been mainly negative. 1t has served
US quite as much by what it had not
done as by what it has done. From
themselves, not from institutions,
our people have derived the power
which has signalized their career
And by what means has such progress
been made? Our industry has been
left free to pursue its own bent and
although we have had reasons Of wild
speculation, yet there has been little
that was artificial and fictitious in our
enterprises. The great mind OF the
country has been occupied with sub
stantial things; labor, as one of the
original institutions Of Gods wisdom,
has been certified and confirmed by
our position and circumstances and
directly out of the primal elements,
which the affluence of nature laid at
our feet, we have had to create our
wealth. Power has not come as a
second-handed thing, 1t has not
been inherited. Mountains, hills,
valleys, prairies, inland seas, and a
world wide forest, were the real an
cestors of our people, and whatever
of skill and force we possess is prac-
tically their offspring. In this aspect
of our civilization we have a most
singular phenomenon, viz, the vast
proportion of our population that has
come in immediate contact with the
fresh scenes Of American life, and con-
structed its fortunes from materials
that its own hands gathered together.
What an impulse this has givea to
our industry What vitality leaps
into muscles and nerves when the re-
sources OF half q continent, for the first
time, unlock themselves and surren'
der their long-concealed treasures
10 our active mind, to ovr eager grasp
the Western World is as new crea-
ton. We inaugurate q human lord
ship over it. Forests are felled,
plowsharcs pierce the yielding soil,
submissive waters flow into our chan
nels, cities rise, and States are Or
ganized as if we felt conscious of an
indisputable sovereignty. Our phys
} ical energy has really assumed the
better characteristics of chivalry, and.
clad in the armor of fascinating
knighthood, we have done our work
in the spirit and style of conquerors,
Amidst all our practicalness we have
shown an imaginative excitement, a
poetic warmth in our blood, fervol
in the higher attributes Of intellect,
that exhibit new phase Of business,
mind. Owing to this fact, American
enterprise has been something more
than an ordinary calculation Of capi-
tai and profits. Its realms have bor-
dered on the romantic. Its broad
fields, retreating beyond q series ol
horizons that weared the eye 10 meas
ure, have glitterod in the golden sun
+, shine. Our countrymen have been
Intellectually charmed by the magni-
tude of those schemes which, on q
small scale, would have been nothing
} more than the dull, dry details Of
slavish routine. Ifthey had had leis-
ure and repose-the tranquility o.
wealth and the power which springs
from cuture--imagination would
; have immortaliSed itself in statuary,
painting and poetry. But as circum
stances have ruled us, imagination
has found its full activity in magnif-
icent enterprise. Think you that i'm.
agination has no other scope than in
literature and arts? Look at that
great Erie Canal look at that Bal.
timore and Ohio Railroad look al
the Niagara Suspension Bridge, and
the Saint Nicholas Hotel look Al
cotton-gins and reaping Machines
. Practical sagacity built these things
but was that all ? Far from it. Bril-
liant thoughts, splendid conceptions
glowing images, and feelings, tha
would have been most eloquent II
words, If words had been the natural