The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1900-05-17
JEFFERsoNlAN EXPANSION.

In, his great speech in the United
States Senate in opposition to the Nc
Kinley Philippine policy, Senator
Hoar of Massachusetts, explained the
expansion of this nation, territorially,
under Thomas Jefferson, in such a
clear and convincing manner, that no
man but an unthinking one or an I'M
trustworthy Republican politician can
stretch it over to cover the criminal
aggression" of William Mckinley.
Speaking of the broad scope Of the
Declaration of independence, the SEN
ator said:
There is expansion enough in it,
put 1t is the expansion of freedom and
not OF despotism; of life, not of death.
Never was such growth in all human
history as that from the seed Thomas
Jefferson planted. The parable OF the
mustard seed, than which, as Edward
Everett said, the burning pen Of in
splrat1on, ranging heaven and earth
for similitude, can find nothing more
appropriate or expressive to which to
l1ken the Kingdom of God,' is repeated
again. 'Whereunto shall we liken it,
or with what comparison shall we
compare it? 1t is like grain of mus
tard Seed which, when it is sown in
the earth, is less than all the seeds
that be in the earth
But when it is sown, it groweth
up, and becomes greater than all the
herbs, and shooteth out great
branches, so that the fowls of the air
may lodge under the shadow of it,
THIS is THE EXPANSION OF
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 1T HAS
COVERED THE CONTINENT. IT is
ON BOTH SEAS. IT HAS SAVED
SOUTH AMERICA. IT is REVOLT
TIONIzING EUROPE. 1T is THE
EXPANSION OF FREEDOM. IT
DIFFERS FROM YOUR TINSEL,
PINCHBECK, PEWTER EXPAN-
SION AS THE GROWTH OF
A HEALTHY YOUTH INTO A
STRONG MAN DIFFERS FROM THE
EXPANSION OF AN ANACONDA
WHEN HE SWALLOWS HIS VIC
TIM. OURS is THE EXPANSION OF
THOMAS JEFFERSON. YOURS is
THE EXPANSION OF AARON
BURR. IT is DESTINED TO AS
SHORT A LIFE AND TO A LIKE
FATE.
Until within two years the American
people have been wont to appeal to the
Declaration of independence as the
foremost state paper in history. AS
the years went round the Fourth of
July has been celebrated wherever
Americans could gather together at
home or abroad. To have signed it,
to an American, was better than a
title Of nobility. 1t was no passionate
utterance of hasty enthusiasm.
There was nothing of the radical in it;
nothing of Rousseau; nothing of the
French Revolution. 1t was the sober
utterance of the soberest men of the
soberest generation that ever lived.
1t was the declaration of religious
people at the most religious period of
their history. 1t was declaration
not merely of rights but of duties. 1t
was an act, not of revolution but of
construction. 1t was the cornerstone,
the foundation of a great national edi-
flee wherein the. American people were
to dwell forevermore The language
was the language of Thomas Jeffer-
son. But the thought of every one
of his associates.
AS the Christian religion was rested
by it's author on two sublime COM
mandments on which hang all the law
and the prophets, so these men rested
republican liberty on two sublime YER
tiles on which it must stand, if it can
stand at all; in which it must live
or bear no life. One was the equality
of the individual man with every other
in political right. The other is that
you are now seeking to overthrow
the right of every people to institute
their own government, laying it's foun-
dation on such principles and organ
izing it's powers in such form as to
them shall seem most likely to effect
| their safety and happiness, and SO to
assume among the powers of the earth
which the laws of nature and of ma
lures God entitle them Equality of
individual manhood and equality Of
individual states. This is the doctrine
which the Republican party is now
| urged to deny.