The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-05-22

amble, ITO form a more perfect un-
ion, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common
defense, promote the general welfare
and secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our pOsterity."
Their object was TO form firmer ma
tional government and a union of the
people in all parts of the country, as
constituting one nation Instead of a
mere league of states. The cOnstitu-
tion is the organic, fun damental law
of the whole people of the United
states and, as the organic law or the
nation, il is every where supreme.
1t is astonishing To US of this gene
ration to learn how much both OF hos
tiiity and Indifference was at firsC felt
for the new government, which we
see to have been the only salvation of
the country. Even the men who
helped make ii doubted its ddra ability,
but as the new system lived on from
year to year, and from year to year
proved itself strong and effective it
became respected, as it gathered dig
nifty and force, regard was added TO
respect, until at last the federal gov
ernment became rallying center for
great parties moved by genuine ma
tional sentiment. But at first neither
love nor respect shielded the federal
authorities from the jealOusies and
menaces of the states. The new gov
ernment was to grow national with
the growth of national history and
national sentiment.
Slavery was what most stood in the
way of nationality. So long as the
laborers in the south were slaves and
those of the north freemen, these two
sections could not become alike either
socially or politically, and could not
have the same national feeling. The
two sections, therefore, rapidly be-
came dissatisfied with living under
the same political system, and the Sc
cession so much talked of in the ear
lier days of the Union at last became
a reality. A five years struggle be-
tween the North and South utterly
destroyed the differences of institu-
tions between these two sections, Sc.
cession was prevented, the union was
preserved and slavery was forever
abolished.
The greatest effect of the war was
that the nation was made harmon
ious. There was no longer any per-
manent reason why the south should
not become like the rest of the cOun-
try in character and sentiment. Both
sections were brought to the same
modes of life and thought, there was
no longer any obstacle to our being in
reality one great nation. The Civil
War completed the Union. The con-
stitution now by degrees came to be
universally considered by all as a
masterpiece, applicable to every coun'
try. This conviction grows steadily
stronger. From the time when the
opposing principles assumed a fixed
form, the constitution has been the
political Bible of the people.
Thus it came about, that the strug-
gle for political rights in colonial
America led to our independence and
the organization of our government
in a dual form-the government of the
states and the government of the
United States. Henceforth govern
ment in America was government
of the people, by the people and fol
the people. Liberty was in her new
home. Strong hands subdued the
wilderness and brave hearts estab.
lished an empire extending from the
frozen regions Of the north to the
sunny chimes of the south, from the
stormy Atlantic to the peaceful Pa.
clfic. Through hardships. suffering
and sacrifice, the great Republic Of
the wessern world has risen to become
a peer among the nations. It's starry