Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-03-09


pioneers, who had by their personal
prowess, courage and suffering, won
and held the Western frontier, with no
aid, even in the darkest hours of their
trials, from the Atlantic population.
II Congress interposed vexatious de-
lays, not so with the immortal Wash
ington, for he approved the bill on the
day following its passage.
General satisfaction and ioy hailed
the announcement of their admission
into the Union.
In July, John Sewer, the Governor of
the new State, said in message to the
General Assembly;
~ nave the pleasure of announcing
to you gentlemen the admission Of the
State of Tennessee into the Federal
Union, circumstance pregnant with
every prospect of peace, happiness and
opulence to our infant State.
THE period has at length arrived
when the people of the Southwestern
Territory may enjoy all the blessings
and liberties of free and independent
republic"
To this the Legislature replied in
terms expressive of the profoundest
satisfaction at the bright future which
this momentous event vouchsafed.
These expressions of felicitation and
joyful anticipations were not rhetorical
platitudes. These men were not coin.
ers of well-turned or glittering phrases,
to catch the ear or please the fancy.
Most of them had experienced the
hardships of frontier life, the abandon
ment by North Carolina, the uncertain
ties and veXations of tentative govern
ments, the complications of the dual
sovereignties of North Carolina and the
State of Franklin, and the dependency
of territorial existence. They were
harrassed with the uncertainty of land
titles, and, though Scared veterans,
looked with dread upon the ominous
mutterings that came from boards of
bl'odthirsty savages, all too close, and
stimulated by Spanish intrigue.
No one can doubt that they uttered
sober words OF earnest conviction when
they said to the Governor:
ave rejoice with you in the event OF
This State being formally admitted into
the Federal Union, and our minds are
filled with the most pleasing sensations
when we reflect on the prosperity and
political happiness to which we view il
as certain prelude"
The loyal sons and daughters of this
great commonwealth, inspired by that
intense love of State which has always
been respondent quality in Tennes.
scans, and which will never abate un.
less we become degenerates and apos.
tates from the faith of the fathers, are
assembled to commemorate that auspi
cious day.
We have come, citizens by birth and
citizens by adoption, of all religions
creeds and all political parties, seces
sionists and unionists, Federal and
Confederate, to celebrate the admission
of Tennessee into the Federal Union
and in that act, Notwithstanding the
differences which once rent usasunder
and were upheld without regard tc
cost of blood and treasure, differences
in regard to which our convictions are
unaltered, differences which have beer
settled forever by constitutions
changes accepted in good and abiding
faith, to proclaim to the world, without
reserve, our perfect JOY that Tennessee
is today an indestructible State of al
indestructible Union, that Union which
our fathers helped to establish, tina
Union which has for its national EN-
blem the stars and stripes. which Ten
nesseans have so often borne TO bloody
victory, and by this historic occasion
to transmit To our children and all pos
terity, the trust of maintaining consti
tutional liberty that hundred year
hence may be renewed this solemn
rite, within Union of preserved integ
rity, composed of States whose un
: eclipsed stars have suffered no diminu
ton in their magnitude.
The self-saorificing and heroic mel
who made the epoch we celebrate dis
charged their high trust in their da.
and generation ably and faithfully
created State, endowed it with grea
potentialities and maintained il in
career of honor, prosperity and great
ness.
Under conditions more complex. eX
igenc;es more momentous, demanding
patriotism as unsel6sh, courag
as unfaltering and Judgment tina
must confront governmental problem
evolved by the march of civilization
and vitalized by social forces, long dol
mant but now aroused and aggressive
we bear the trust of today.
Where we stand was once the seat O
dense population of unknown peopl
of remote antiquity, who vanished fror
the earth, leaving no record to teI
whence they came, what they achieve
and what we're their institutions. VIII
they disappeared is a matter of fam
tradition and vague conjecture
Whether they themselves planted an
nourished the seeds of decay an
persisted because they were unworth
Of existence, or whether drawer G
more powerful people swept them int
oblivion we do not know.
Nature reconquered her own, almos
obiters.,Ag the memorials of TIL
ancieSg race, so that but little NOR
than hundred years ago the expaus
of country where the eye is now dazzle
and the soul uplifted by the magnificer
. creations Of refined civilization, wa