The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1860-06-14

Ncal Representative man.
Much. says the New York Post, has
been said lately of representative men
so much, indeed, that an enterprising pub.
Usher has put forth book of biographies,
in which all the lives of our most noted
politicians are sketched at length, and
the world is given 10 understand that
gentlemen who obtain political positions
are high types eff American CIVILIZATION.
But this is is cardinal mistake; and the
book in question does not contain word
of many of the real representative men
of the nation. Abraham Lncoln's name,
for instance, is omitted from it while such
men as Cobb, Dallas, Orr. Lane. Brown,
Bolts and Wise are treated with the most
elaborate consideration.
Nevertheless, Mr. Lincoln surpasses all
these as personifcation Of the distinctive
genius of our country and its institutions.
Whatever is peculiar in the history and
development of America, whatever is
grand in its social and political structure,
finds its best expression in the career Of
such men as Abraham Lincoln. Our
first and principal task as nation has
been to subdue the vast wilderness which
has been given to us as heritage. To
expel the savage, to fell the forest, 70
clear the field, to tame the soil, to con-
struct ways of intercourse aud to convert
the desert into prosperous and bloom
ing habitation, has been the work mpos.
ed upon us, and our highest triumphs
consist in the success with which this has
been accomplished. Our literature, art,
and science have as yet merely made a
beginning; our achievements in war and
diplomacy are comparatively insigui6-
cant; but the practical energy which
within a few years has carried the civilir
cation of the nineteenth century, in its
highest forms, over an entire continent,
commands and deserves the applause Of
the world. This has been our destiny and
future history will write it as our earliest
distinction and glory.
Now, the pioneers of the West have
been the instruments Of this success
men who have quilted the settled districts
of the seaboard to reclaim the interior
wilderness; who have taken their axes
upon their shoulder to clear away the
woods; who have put their hands to the
plow to turn up the soil; who, freighting
flat boats with the wares of the villages,
have carried them into the solitudes to
supply the wants of the frontier; and in
Abraham Lincoln we behold one of the
most hardy adventures Of these back
woodsmcn. A pioneer, wood cutter,
boatman and farmer, he has, In each vo-
cation, typi6ed one grand and character
istic mission of our people, and become
representative man in the truest sense OF
the term.
Our country is not, however, distin-
guished alone for its stupendous physical
progress, for those grand triumphs which
have sprinkled the whole continent with
cities, and connected the remotest parts
with railroads and telegraphs. 1t has al,
so worked out for itself a peculiar social
and political constitution. Placing, for
the first time in the history Of mankind,
the controlling power Of government in
the hands of the whole people, it has
constructed vast fabric Of society on that
new basis. 1t has said to all ranks and
orders of men, here you are free; here
you are equal in rights to each other;
here the careers Of life are open to every
conner, men are thrown upon their own
intrinsic manhood for their reliance, and
it belongs to each one to become the arch
itect of his own fortunes. This unlimited
field Of action, though it has produced
some social evils, has produced much
great good, and we do not believe that
there is a nation on the globe which
the masses Of the people are SO prosper
Gus, so intelligent, and so contented, as
they are in this nation. Whist more strik-
ing illustration of its effects than the rise
of Mr. Lincoln in his present importance
in the eyes of the world. Is he not pre-
eminenlly the child Of our institutions?
A poor orphan, without education or
friends, by the labor of bis hands, by the
energy of his will, by the manliness and
probity of his character be raises himself
to fortune and fame: powerful party,
which contains, to say the least, as much
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