The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-12-20
THURSDAY. DECEMBER 20, 1866.
The Nations Life and Progress.


national unity. From 1643, when the frs
rude attempt at forming Union was made
by the New England colonies down to 1855,
when the last desperate effort OF State
sovereignty to vindcate itself was thwarted
nv the nation in its sovereign and supreme
capacity, there has been a constant growth
OF national life, a constant increase of nd-
tionGl power, a constant approximation Co
national unity.
During their entire colonial existence the
people of this country were in fact, consti-
tuent and organic portion of the British EN-
pire, but the necessities of their condition,
their common dangers and wants, the con-
tiguty of the territory they inhabited, their
mutual commerce, the intermarriage of their
children, their common language, and their
common sufferings from British tyranny, had
already developed the germ oi separate and
vigorous national life. The outbreak of hos
tilities at the commencement OF the Revolu-
tionary War furnished the occasion for this
new national life to reveal itself, and before
the Declaration Of independence the people
were already acting through a common
national organ-the Continental Congress.
The Declaration of Independence was
formal assertion Of the fact of the national
existence. AS nation the people fought the
war of the Revolution, and vindiCated their
independence. The instinct Of union prompted
to q more powerful and consistent National
Government, and che Constitution of 1887
was formed. And here, in the very opening
sentence, the keynote Of the whole instru-
ment was sounded" We the people of the
United States.' 1t was the national life as
seIting its sovereignty in the creation OF
great national organ OF government. No
wonder that the advocates OF State sove-
reignty took the alarm when they read those
SIGNIFICANT words "What right" said one
oil them, chad the Convention to say, ave the
people instead of lCe the States? If the
States be not the agents OF this compact, it
must be one great consolidated national
government of the people Of all the States"
The development of our country since the
adoption OF the Constitution has augmented
the power of the national life. Ali our great
physical enterprises have served to bind Us
together more firmly as one people. Every
canal that has been dug, every railroad that
has been built, every telegraph line that has
been erected, has contributed towards our
national unity, The progress o. emigration,
sweeping on from State TO State, carrying
the frontier and the border ever on, further
and further towards the West, has contributed
70 fuse the people into one homogeneous mass.
National wants and national necessities have
multiplied. National feeling and pride have
increased.
At last, the great war of the Rebellion came
upon us-a direct attack upon the national
integrity ard life. 1t was repelled and sub
dued by the nation-the true national life re-
vea!ing and vindicating itself in the most
sublime and inspiring manner. From that
conflict the people have come forth more
firmly and lndissolubly welded into national
unity than ever before. The war, too, has
served to develop many of those national
features in the Constitution which had before
slumbered, or been but impertectly realized.
That instrument has come to be regarded
and interpreted in its true character, as the
organic law of natlon-not the compact of
sovereign States.
There is in this growth Of national feeling
a tendency to conform all our institutions to
the true germ OF our national life. That
germ is to be found in the doctrine of liberty
and equality enunciated in the Declaration
OF Independence. Slavery was the deadly
foe of all true nationality in our country. 1t
was sectional institution, founded upon
principles openly a war with our republican
system. Its growth and progress involved
the decay Of the true national idea. Its eX-
tenaion and perpetuation would have revolu-
tionized the countrg, and founded despotic
Oligarchy upon the ruins OF the republic.
The overthrow of slavery demands that all
i.s adiuncts and accessorles-its unequal aud
disfranchislng laws-its system OF taxation
without IepresentatlOn-its iniquitous plan
of representation in Congress-in word, its
whole suStenl shall be overthrown also. The
nation is now bound to realize is true ideal.
If to do this the Constitution needs amend
ment it must be amended. The Nation
" We the peopIe"-made the Constitution
anu the nation can unmake 1t or remake It,
1t is absurd to suppose that the wisdom a
all ages was exhausted by those who framed
the Constitution. We We're then nation Of
three mil ions; we are now nation OF tGrGy
millions. New wants have arisen. The
national territory has expanded, Doftcts
have revealed themselves. The nation ha;
outgrown its swaddling-clothes, and need
the apparel of manhood.
II ia tho effort To DreVant the realization O