Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-02-05
of work which should make his name

| Ho sou VI d sturdy liberty loving
yeoman. His youth had known no
luxury. In the freedom of his noun
tain air he had held himself the equal
of any but the superior of none His
sympathies were broad and his years
OF military service had taught him
| to love his country as only he can
who has toiled and suffered for his
country. He was among the first to
whom state lines lost significance. He
tells us: II early learned to regard
America as my country and congress
as my government, And his eulogist
Horace Burney, speaking of him at the
time he left the service and using the
word republican as the antithesis of
| monarchist says: ''Such man at
the age of 25 must have turned out
his fathers blood from his veins, and
have dug up from the native soil of
his heart every seed and plant of his
youth Or he could have no choice but
to live and die republican,
Of his entry into his chosen profess
sion, of the law l need not stop to
speak. His chief characteristics were
his modesty, his perfect candor, great
activity of his mind, and force of his
logic. He early took a leading place at
the Richmond bar. AS the weakness
of the old confederacy, which may be
styled the child OF an emergency. be-
came more apparent Marshall did
not hesitate to place himself foremost
among those who believed stronger
central government was a necessity.
We all understand how the weakness
and futility of the confederacy at last
forced that great constitutional con-
vention of 1857, over which Washing
ton presided and to name the number
OF which would be to name the bright
est lights Of the times and the men
whom at this day We still honor. John
Marshall was not member of that
convention but he was in hearty sym
pathy with it, purposes for which it
was called. No doubt he watched with
the interest of patriot the struggles
OF that convention. 1t was a battle
royal and the issue was long in doubt
and the final outcome compromise
But at last the great charter, our ma
tlonal constitution was signed and sent
to the several states for ratification.
1t was known that another battle,
mercer even than in the convention
must be fought before ratification
could be accomplished. Especially
would this be true in Virginia. The
baneful doctrine of states rights,
which was a thorn in the flesh in
this government for more than seventy
. years had its strongest and ablest ad-
herents in Virginia. Her people un-
deTstood and were proud of the gov
eminent of their own sovereign state.
they did not desire to relinquish one
jot OF title of that sovereignty. They
were honestly fearful of a central gov
eminent. 1t is difficult for us at this
time to appreciate or understand their
fears. Government under this consti-
tuition has existed for an hundred and
twelve years, and that government is
stronger today perhaps than it's most
ardent supporters hoped at the time
the constitution was ratified. Yet so
lightly does the hand of that govern
ment rest upon the average citizen
that he knows of its existence only as
an agency for his good. We cannot
comprehend the fears of our fathers
But they had not our experience to
guide them. The only paternal or
supervisory government of which their
experience gave them knowledge was
a government of oppression and tyr
rany. They had not yet learned the
extent to which the Intelligence and
patriotism of the American people
can be trusted. Indeed l think that
lesson has not yet been thoroughly
learned.
When convention was called in
Virginia for the purpose of considering
the question of the ratification of the
proposed federal constitution, John
| M or rel hC1 oh@
thereof, not that the constituency that
elected him believed as he did. They
did not and they so told him but they
elected him by reason of his ability
integrity and candor Prominent in
that convention and using his every
effort to defeat the ratification of the
federal constitution was the brilliant
Patrick Henry, whose patriotism none
could question. With him stood the
Masons, and the Graysons, names of
great influence and of revered mem
ory. Their opposition to the federal
constitution was grounded in
sincerity, and in strong conviction
They saw in that constitution the de-
struction of their dearly won inde-
pendence and they assailed it with the
profundity of their wisdom and the
fire of their eloquence. Opposed to the
WhirEwind of eloquence, stood James
Madison and John Marshall, less bril-
liant but more profound, and so we'll
did they defend the constitution and
so clearly did they demonstrate its ne
cessity that in the end the convention,
confessedly against the constitution
when it met, voted to ratify the consti-
tuition but by the narrow margin of
ten votes, Virginia was the last state
, needed. The constitution was adopt
. ed as the supreme law of the land
The historical facts thus related
clearly prove that the principles sub
sequently announced by John Marshall
; from the bench were not born of the
necessities of the case before him as
. has sometimes been charged They
were the strong earnest and intelligent
J, convictions Of his early manhood
/ These facts show also that the first
4 great division Of political parties in
this country occurred before we had
sIa constitution. There were those