The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-04-18
THE BEAMS OF TIE SOUTH.
A southern Woman Has Word to Say OF
tho Subject

tho Subject.
The oft-repeated assertion that the
South always was, and now is, intel
lectually inferior to the North has in
duced me to make a careful invcstiga-
tion of the matter. The result fur
nishes an array of facts at once start
ling and convincing, that is to anyone
not hide-bound by sectionalism and
prejudice.
I do not pretend to cover the whole
ground, but hope that the instances
enumerated may tend to a settlement
of the vexed question, or, at least, in
duce those who make such statements
to consult history before giving them
to the public.
The South, although.in q numerical
minority, controlled the General Gov
ernment for the first eighty years of
its existence. Eight of the thirteen
Presidents we're from the South, four
of them serving two terms.
Of twelve Vice-Presidents, four
were from slave States. Under eleven
Administrations the South furnished
fourteen Secretaries of the State,
eleven Secretaries of War, six Secre-
taries of the Treasury, nine Secreta-
ries. of the Navy, and eight Postmas-
ters General. OF ffty-6ve Presidents
pro tenn of the Senate, thirty-nine
were from the South. OF thirty-one
Speakers of the House, twenty-five
were Southerners. Of FIVE Chief JUS
tices, two of the most eminent were
from the South. Of twenty-nine As
sociate Justices, seventeen were from
the South. Of twenty-one Attorney
Generals, fourteen hailed from that
section.
"The first resolutions" says B. F.
Warde, of Mississippi, declaring the
rights of the colonies to be free and
independent were introduced into a
Southern Legislature by a Southern
man. The first resolutions to the
same effect were presented in the Co.
lonial Congress by another Southern
man, and took form in the Declaration
Of independence, under the matchless
genius Of still another Southern m an.
A Southern man led the patriot ar
mics to victory and established the
possibilities of the proudest nation on
the earth. A Southern man was prime
mover of the Convention that framed
the Constitution. When the Govern
ment had been created it's organic law
was still an unexplained book, a pom
derous oar in unskilled hands. It was
left for the greatest legal mind Of the
age, a Southern Chief Justice, to
analzye and stamp upon it the con-
struction which will be accepted as
long as the Constitution is respected.
A Southern man framed the ordinance
for the organization and government
of the great Northwestern territory,
an instrument second only in import
ance to the Constitution of the United
States. A Southern man was the au-
thor of the Republican theory of pop
ular Government which prevailed dur
ing sixty years Of our greatest pros
perity, peace and happiness.
Of one hundred and ,eighty-four for
eign ministers, -ninety-nine were
Southern men.
The South furnished the most bril-
liant officers in the Revolutionary war
and the war with Mexico. 1t was
during the Administration of South
ern President that the war Of 1872
was inaugurated and brought to tri-
umphant conclusion. The master
spirits of the great struggle were such
men as Clay, Calhoun, Monroe, Grun-
dy, Lowndes and Crawford, while
only five Senators north of the Della
ware voted to sustain it. Florida was
acquired from Spain and Louisiana
from France by a Southern President,
through the skill and courage of a
Southern diplomatist. The pluck and
patriotism Of Southern President
gained the independence of Texas and
added New Mexico to the national do
main, thus extending the boundary
line to the Pacific, and opening to the
world the '.golden gates" of Cali
fornia.
Coming down to more modern times,
we find Matthew F. Maury, aSouthern
man, holding the proud title Of "Phi-
losopher of the Seas. He it was
who mapped out the geography of the
seas, explained their secret phenom-
ena, blazed out on the trackless ocean
the shortest and safest highways for
the commerce of the world, and by his
Wind and Current Charts and his
Sailing Directions saved the United
States millions Of dollars annually on
outgoing tonnage alone.
Where shall we find another Admi-
raj Semmes, who with single ship
swept from the seas the commerce of
a great nation
The medical records show that two
of the greatest surgeons that the
world has ever known were j. Marion
Sims, of South Carolina, and Ephraim
Mcdowell, Of Kentucky. The en-
lightened world recognizes them as
leaders in the realm Of surgery.
Another Southerner, Judah P. Ben
jamin, went to England after the me-
ridian of life, and became one of the
Queens counsellors and the leading
jurist in that land of great lawyers,
having on his docket at one time halt
of the appeal cases in the kingdom.
The first steamship sent across the
Atlantic, May 20, 1919, was the Sa'
vannah, equipped and sent over by a
few public-spirited and practical men
of Savannah.
The first railroad in America was 6
short track in Broad street, Charles
ton, simply to demonstrate the idea:
The first canal in America was the
Santee, in South Carolina.
The first patent for a steam plough
was granted to Mr.. Ballinger, Of
Barnwcll, S. G. Tie first 6rt
alarm telegraph patented by Mr.
n.no-oll of South Goro1ina was