The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-04
THE NATIONS BIRTHDAY.


century finds the United States a much
greater nation than ever before. and great
er than its founders ever dreamed of.
When our forefathers celebrated the first
Fourth Of July of the nineteenth century
there were but sixteen States in the Union,
and their entire population was only
100000 The treaty of 1888 made the Mis-
sissippi river the western boundary of the
country. and the boldest statesman of the
time did not yet imagine tina 1t would ever
extend further. jefferson. who had just
been in~augurated President. had not yet
conceived the great Louisiana purchase
which was to push the western boundary
OF the country two-thirds of the way
across the continent. still leaving it a long
way from the Pacific coast. Those who
celebrated the first Fourth of July in the
nineteenth century rested content in the
belief that they had a goodly heritage.
bounded on the west by the Mississippi
river. fully half of it yet to be wrested
from the Indians. and with a vast. unpeo-
pied continent beyond owned by foreign
and unfriendly powers. Now our domain
extends to the Pacific and far beyond, the
sixteen States nave grown to forty-fve. the
5000. coo of people to 5000. 600. with the pow
er and prestige of the Nation increased be-
yond the widest dream of the most mag
NATIVE statesman a hundred years ago.
The period between the first Fourth Of
July of the nineteenth century and the first
one of the twentieth century covers the de-
velopment of a young and feeble nation
with a Constitution which was still on trial
and a government that was based on prin-
ciples whose vitality the world did not yet
recognize. and which many of our own peo-
pie still feared might not stand the test Of
time, into a great world power and in some
important respects the foremost nation on
earth. These facts justify every reason
able demonstration OF natural rejoicing and
of thankfulness 10 the Divine power that
has led us on through one stage after an
other Of national growth and expansion to
our present position of unexampled pros
perity.
The day is worthy of celebration not so
much because it commentaries the birth
Of the Nation as because of the immortal
declaration which accompanied the birth,
and which set forth doctrines then for the
first time recognized as basic principles of
government. Those principles were not
original with Jefferson. They had been
many years growing in the American mind
and were foreshadowed as early as May 81.
l775, in the famous Me~cklenburg resolu-
tons. adopted in North Carolina and for
warded TO the Continental Congress-, de-
claring the people of the colonies "a free
and independent people, under the control
of no other power than that of our God
and the general government of the Con-
gress.' The twenty-seven stanch Calvin
lists. OF whom nine were Presbyterian rul-
ing elders, who constituted the Mecklen-
burg assembly that made this declaration.
were considerably in advance of Jefferson,
and. in fact. of nearly all American states
men. AS late as August, HIS, Jefferson
said: II would rather be in dependence on
Great Britain, properly limited. than on
Even Washington said in May. 1776: when
| took command Of his army June, 1775) l
abhorred the idea OF Independence" 1t is
fortunate for mankind that the trainers of
the Declaration recognized the hand of
Providence when 1t was clearly revealed to
them. and that they knew how to accept a
situation that was inevitable.
But If the principles OF the Declaration
did not originate with Jefferson, he was
the first 10 weld them into logical form and
to give them Incompatible literary shape
in the immortal paper which. with the Con-
stitution. has become the charter of our
liberties. Although 1t took seven years of
lighting TO make the Declaration good. its
influence began to be felt in the political
world from the hour OF it's PRONUNCIATION,
and from that time to the present it has
continued TO be recognized bY lovers OF lib
erty the world over as the only true and
enduring basis of human government. The
Constitution Of the United States is a much
greater paper than the Declaration. but ii
did not accomplish it's specific purpose
moro successfully. One is the foundation
of free government and the other is the
superstructure. One formulates the true
theory OF liberty and the other puts il into
working practice.
In the celebration OF to-day there will be
some outcropping of pessimismA There are
those who distrust the American people
and the American character, and who
think we are less patriotic than our faith
ers. Some OF these who get a chance to
speak to-day will bewail the alleged de-
cadence of liberty and will declare that the
doctrines OF the Declaration OF Independ-
ence have been supplanted by a spirit of
Imperialism and oppression. They forget
that the Declaration and the Constitution
were not made for a day. but for all time,
and that national policies must be adapted
TO national exigencies. They forget that
the Trainer Of the Declaration was himself
the first great advocate of national expan-
sion. and that he declared our Constitution
TO be the most admirably adapted for ex-
tensive empire of any government on earth.
They forget that there never was a time
when the American flag stood as distinctly
for the extension OF liberty as 1t does to-
, day, and that never before In the history OF
, the world have the principles of republican