Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1859-08-19
For the CayOn,cis
Suggestions on Popular Education.

TO kesTs. Haaphrrys Harei and Woods;
GnsTLEMEs The FIRST topic, to which ! proposed
TO invite your attention and that Of the public, is
the necessity of popular education--espcciaIy in a
free government, like that which we have inherited
from our fathers. argue the necessity of popular
education them in the first place because virtue and
intelligence arc essential to the purity and perpetui
ty ofourfrec political Institutions If this PROPOSE
ton is true, can any theme more worthily occupy
our thoughts; or can ON clTorts be more worthily
directed to the accomplishment of any end, than
that of educating the rising generation2 We talk
about the value OF the Union the means of pressrv
ing it, and the causes which are in active operation
to destroy it, but depend upon it, gentlemen that
the virtue AMI intelligence of the masses are the
sheetanchor of political salvation and national
eSistcnce. This; Iknow,--whatever may be thought
of the danger by which politicians attempt TO alarm
our fears-is conceded on all hands. But do we as
nation, feel the full force of this important truth?
Do we lay it TO heart and comprehend its entire
signifcancy2 If we do, and if we act in accordance
with these convictions, no weapons, forged in sess-
pools of political heresy, will be successfully
welded no treason, Matched in the hot-beds Of ia
natics will ever be efectual in the overthrow and
dissolution of this beautiful system of constitutional
freedom, won by the vaor devised by the wisdom,
cherished by the patriotism, and cemented together
by the blood of our revolutionary sres. 1t would
he strange indeed for enlightened and vrtuous
people to consent to the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of this glo
rious federal union strange indeed for people
with the slightest tincture Of historical knowledge.
For in the language of Daniel Webster, ait is to
that union weowe safety at home and our
sideraton and dignity abroad tits thatunion that
we are indebted for whatever makes us most proud
Of our country. That union we reached only by
the discipline of our virtues in the school of
adversely. II had its origin in the necessities of dis
ordered finance, PROSTATE commerce, and ruined
credit Under its benign influence, the@ great in
t,rests Immediately awokc, rs from the dead, and
sprang forth with newness of life. Every year of
its duration has teemed with fresh proofs its utility
and its blessings and although our territory has
stretched wider and wider, and ounpopulation spread
farther and father they have not Out its protec-
ton its benefits 1t has been to us all copious
fountain Of national, social and personal happiness
: WI lie the union lasts we have high, exciting gra-
tifying prospects spread out before u.s. for and
children Will then, any body but mad man or
fool chang over the precpice of disunion to see
; whether with his short sight he can flthom the
depth of the abys be low2' Can an enlightened
and vrtuous people happy, peaceful and prosperous
calmly contemplate the time when he shall behold
the sun shining on the broken and dshonered frag-
ments Of glorious union; states discover
ed discrdan belligerent; on land rent with civil
feuds drenched, it may be, in fraernal blood"
Stranger still would it be for an enlightened peo-
pie to prefer any form of despotism tyranny to
! our beautiful system of constitutional liberty--a
system which chalengesthe admiration ofenlighten-
ed reason. But this is general view of the sub
ject. Let us examine it more particularly
In order that any people should feel any great in
terest in the preservation of civil and religious iber
: y, they must comprehend what it is. If they I'M
derstand it, they will love- cherish, and gard it. 1t
becomes necessary therefore, to examine briefly the
structure of our government.
And first of all let it ever be remembered that
the founders of American nation evolved, assented
and promuged new principles of government ave
hold" says the Declaration Of Independence 'these
truths to be self-evidence that all created
equals that they endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienablc right that among these are life
liberty and the pursuit of happiness that to
z these rights governments are instituted among men,
deriving their Just powers from the consent of the
governed" This is the first distinct recognition of
the doctrine that the rights of all constitute the ba
sis and the happiness of all the objects of govern
ment. II snew, because shall search for it in
vain in the records ofanticqdity Upon these prin-
| cples, elaborated by the clear and comprehensive
inteccts of the revolutionary sages and maintained
By the blood and treasure of the people, the Amer
lean government is founded. We call it REPUBLIC
What, then is republic?
4, republic is that form of government, in which
the whole people, or part of the people, hold the
> sovereign power The people of Athens were ex-
, ample of the first kind of republic. Athens was in
! deed fierce democracy which governed itself by
primary assemblies of the people. In modern times
the United States are an example of the same kind
of republic. But it differs from the Athenian re-
public in this that the people do not govern them
selves by their assemblies but by deegatrs, thro
D the principles of representation. Venice, Genoa
and the Dutch States were examples of the second
kind of republic in which part only of the people
Internationally, or in ameted way, held and exer-
cised the authority, 4 republic may therefore, be
f democracy or an Gristocacy. The American re-
public is then democracy (See Mansfeds Polit-
. cal Grmmer).
Our nation Of republic is civil community in
which the people exercise the sovereign power.
Hence the people of the United States properly
1 called sovregns This moreover is, by fair implca-
p ton, the doctrine of the constitution. The pream-
, bic couched in the following words ave the
people Of the United States, in order to form more
c perfect mion establish justice insure domestic tran
guilty, provide for the common. defence promote
. the general welfare, aud secure the blessings of