The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-01
States, Rights Respected.

0tatSS hl9HtS ncoPcCIcus
We expanded by carving the wilderness
into territories and out of these territor-
les building new states when once they
had received as permanent settlers a suf-
ficient number of our own people. Being
a practical nation we have never tried to
force on any section of our new territory
an unsuitable form of government merely
because 1t was suitable for another Sec
ton under different conditions. or the
territory covered by the Louisiana Pur-
chase portion was given statehood with
In few years Another portion has not
been admitted to statehood, although a
century has elapsed-although doubtless
1t soon will be. In each case we showed
the practical governmental genius of our
race by devising methods suitable to meet
the actual existing needs not by insisting
upon the application of some abstract
shibboleth to all our new possessions
alike, no matter how homogeneous this
application might sometimes be.
Over by far the major part of the ter
ritory, however, our people spread In such
numbers during the course of the nine
tenth century that we were able to build
up state after state, each with exactly
the same complete local independence in
all matters affecting purely its own do
nestle interests as In any of the original
thirteen states-each owing the same abb
solute fealty to the union of all the states
which each of the original thirteen states
also owes-and finally each having the
same proportional right to its share In
shaping and directing the common policy
of the union which is possessed by any
other state, whether of the original thir
teen or not.
This process now seems to us part of
the natural order of things, but 1t was
wholly unknown until our own people de-
vised 1T. 1t seems to us a mere matter
of course, matter of elementary right
and Justice, thar in the deliberations of
the national representative bodies the
representatives of state which came into
the union but yesterday stand ON a foot
ing of exact and entire equality with
those of the commemorative whose sons
once signed the Declaration of Independ-
ence. But this way of looking at the
matter is purely modern, and in its origin
purely American. When Washington
during his Presidency saw new states
come into the union on n footing of COM
plete equality with the old, every Euro
pean nation which had colonies still adj
ministered them as dependencies and
every other mother-country treated the
colonist not as a self-governing equal
but subject.
The process which we began has since
who were capable both of expansion and
Of self-government and now the world
accepts 1t as the natural process, as the
rule; but century and a quarter ago it
was not merely exceptional; II was I'M
known.
The Greatest Achievement.
This, then Is the great historic signifi-
canoe of the movement of continental
expansion In which the Louisiana Pur-
chase was the most striking single
achievement. 1t stands out In marked
relief even among the feats Of nation
of pioneers a nation whose people have
from the beginning been picked out by a
process of natural selection from among
the most enterprising individuals of the
nations of western Europe. The acquisi-
ton of the territory is credit to the
broad and far-sighted craftsmanship of
the great statesmen to whom 1t was i'm
mediately due, and above all to the
aggressive and masterful character of the
hardy pioneer folk to whose restless
energy these statesmen gave expression
and direction whom they followed rather
than led. The history of the land com
prised within the limits of the purchase
Is an epitome of the entire history OF our
people. Within these limits we have grad
ually built up state after state until now
NftNS many aiA'to i've ouipdSb III wealth..
In population. and In many-sided deyelop-
ment. the original thirteen states as thew
were when their delegates met In the
continental congress The people Of these
states have shown themselves mighty In
war with their fellowman, and mighty
in strength to tame the rugged wilder
ness. They could not thus have conouer-
ed the forest and the prairie. the noun
tain and the desert. had they not pos
sessed the great fighting virtues, the
qualities which enable a people to over
come the forces of hostile men and hostile
nature. On the other hand, they could
not have used Alright their conquest had
they not In addition possessed the quail
tiles OF self-mastery and seIf-restraint.
the power OF acting in combination with
their fellows, the power of yielding obc-
dience to the law and of building up an
orderly civilization. Courage and hardf-
hood are Indispensable virtues in peo-
pie: but the people which possesses no
others can never rise high in the scale
either Of power or Of culture. Great peo-
pies must have In addition the govern
mental capacity which comes only when