The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-12
DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALITY BY
WAR.

WAR.
While the abnormal condition of war is
fruitful source OF decentralization in GER
tain directions, the history of this country
proves that the American people are now
a Nation through the educating influences
of the conflict of the battlefield. 1t was the
shock of war which finally broke the spell
of the sentiment of devotion to the British
crown which pervaded the colonists. The
eloquence of the Henrys, the Adamses and
the Otises awakened widespread indigna-
ton, but it took Lexington and Bunker Hill
to create the sentiment which evoked the
Declaration of Independence. 1t may be
doubted if the colonists who took up arms
at the outset would have done so had they
then foreseen the logical result of clash
Of arms. They hoped that armed resistance
would lead Great Britain to adopt a con-
ciliatory policy in reference to their colo
MES.
The Declaration of Independence speaks
of the united colonies" and declares that
they ought to be free and independent
states,' but there is no intmation of ma
tionality in that remarkable document. 1t
| seemed to take the years of war which fol-
lowed to bring soldiers like Washington,
Hamilton and Knox to see the necessity of
central government based upon the ma
tional idea. During the years Immediately
following the war the national sentiment did
not gain ground, even when statesmen saw
the weakness of the Confederation. The
masses were more attached to their States
than to the nationality which the Confeder-
alton and the Congress foreshadowed. Had
not Washington and few of his able sup
porters been more influential than Jeffer-
son and his followers the Constitution Of
the United States. making the States ma
ton. would not have been adopted.
After the adoption of the Constitution the
national idea was combated by a strong
party which upheld the theory of the su-
premacy of the States Even the war of
1872 caused Federalists in New England to
forget the teachings of Washington and
commit themselves to what amounted to the
| heresy of secession. The national idea did
not make much progress between 1920 and
| 1860. Slavery was the factor which retarded
the growth of nationalism. Men in the
Union as it was-Abolitionists as we'll as
slave owners. A few great men, represent
| ed by Webster, Andrew Jackson and Clay,
| believed in that more perfect union for the
establishment of which the Constitution
was adopted. Nevertheless, dsunion was
| advocated in and out of Congress, and one
section was arrayed against the other.
There was no civil tribunal to which these
| differences could be taken for adjustment,
and they were taken to the battlefield.
| With the first attack upon the federal
government, representing the Union, the
latent spirit of nationality kindled into
| flame. The preservation of the Union was
the popular rallying cry in the North; but,
/ in reality, the uprising was an awakening
| of the sentiment of nationality. With the
beginning of war the swift development of
the national idea began. At the outset the
Emancipation Proclamation would have
disbanded regiments, but when it came, late
in 1862 it received the approval of the
armies and of the mass of the people in the
North, because they had been brought to
see by war what two generations of teach
ing in time of peace could not lead them
to see, namely, that slavery was at war
| with re-establishment of the Union, which
| stood for nationality.
During the last twenty years the theory
| that the United States is a nation has been
| slowly gaining ground as the embers of sec
| tional strife have turned to ashes. The
process has been so slow that it would have
taken another twenty-five years to accom-
plish what the war with Spain has done in
few weeks. In a conflict in which the
national authority is involved, the South
has enthusiastically become a part of the
Nation. To the people of the South the idea
of the sovereignty and the glory of the Ma
ton called the United States appeals, and
not in vain. Again has war, with all it's
forbidding aspects, done more to make US
nation than could years of peace.