The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1896-06-04

Gourvernour Morris was an honored
member-the great benefactor of the
struggling colonies and the fnancier
of his time. James Madison, who af-
terwards became president; Chairman
Cotesworth Piuckney, the polished
orator; Jared Ingersoll, Hugh Will
Hanson, John Rutledge,J lanes Wilson
and Robert Morris-these men and
others almost as learned, patiently
wrought while the country waited
with anxiety for their completed work.
The result of their combined wisdom
and inspired patriotism was that his
toric document. Wonderful. instru-
ment, that should be adequate for our
people in time of war as we'll as in
time OF peace! Sufficiently guarded
and explicit in its provisions so that
the humblest citizen is protected in
all his rights and immunities. So
we'll balanced and adjusted are the
ditferents departments of government
that one branch makes the laws, anoth-
or expounds and interprets them, and
the third executes them. They all
work in perfectiharmony.
From the close of the Revolutionary
war until the beginning of the great
Civil war, was a season of unprece-
dented prosperity. The war of 1912,
the Mexican war, and the frequent
Indian wars upon our frontier hardly
jnterfered with the steady onward
march of the American people.
The causes of the war of the Re-
bellion are we'll known and admitted.
Two entirely different civilizations
have grown up side by side. The same
year in which our Pilgrim Fathers
landed on Plymouth rock cargo of
slaves was set on shore at jamestown,
Virginia. From the one came schools
and intelligence and free labor. The
institution of slavery generated an
aristocracy. The puritan and cavalier
had little in common. The North
and South drifted farther and farther
apart. The Southern States, from
the time of the Constitutional Conven-
ton, grew more and more jealous of
the National government, and as time
passed became more outspoken in
their advocacy of estate rights" Mr..
Justice Iredell OF the Supreme Court
before the beginning of the present
century, announced the doctrine after
wards so boldly advocated by John C.
Calhoun. Most revolutions and wars
end in compromise after the means of
fighting are expended. The Revolu-
tionary war did not. Most govern
ments are based upon expediency
rather than abstract principles. The
one fundamental error which our fore
fathers committed land the wonder of
the age that their work was done so
well,) was the compromise that they
made with slavery. The baneful
effects of this error eliminated in the
civil war. Perhaps if the contest had
been precipitated and fought out in
the Constitutional convention the in
cipient Union might have been des-
troyed. Perhaps the wisest policy
was adopted. Probably it was.
The civil war found the North un-
prepared. Rich and powerful as she
was, she had not been trained to arms.
The South had practically dominated
the government for half century.
Our navy had dwarfed into insignif-
cance. Arms and munitions of war
had been concentrated in the south.
The treasury was bankrupt. When
the result of the National election of
1860 was known the South began act
i've preparations for war. The North
confded in the righteousness of its
cause and blindly awaited the result.
When Sumpter was fired upon the
Union people of the country we're
amazed and terrified. When the an
pouncement was made to the Rebel
congress at Montgomery that Presi-.
dent Lincoln had called for seventy
five thousand volunteers, it was
received with shouts of derisive laugh
ter. This unexpected unanimity of
the North in defense of the Union,
with it's almost miraculous uprising,
began to open the eyes of the South.
Then came the Union disasters at
Bull Run and Balls Bluff in the east,
Il zc u