The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-05-01
ROOSEVELT (N
LA. PURCHASE
Was The First Real Step To-
wards Expansion
CHANGED MAP OF COUNTRY
Dwells at Length on the Pioneer Days
of United States, Which He Says
Are Now Things of
the Past.
CHANGED MAP OF COUNTRY

pay was as follows:
Hr President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
At the outset of my address let me re-
sall to the minds of my hearers that the
loil upon which we stand, before 1t was
sur. was successfully the possession OF
two mighty empires, Spain and France,
whose sons made a deathless record of
heroism In the early annals of the new
whrld. No history of the western country
can be written without paying heed to the
wonderful part played th$rein in the early
days by the soldiers. missionaries, explor-
ers and traders, who did their work for
the honor of the proud banners of France
and Gastile. While the settlers of Eng
lisl-speaking stock, and those of Dutch
German Nd Scandinavian origin who
were associated with them, We're still
cliiging close 20 the eastern seaboard.
the pioneers of Spain and of France had
penetrated deep into the hitherto un-
kndwn wilderness of the west and had
wandered far and wide within the bound
aries of what is now our mighty country.
The very cities themseves-St. Louis,
NeV Orleaas, Santa Fe, New Mexico
beat witness by their titles to the nation
alities OF their founders. 1t was not un-
til The revolution had begun that the Eng
disappearing settlers pushed west across
the Alleghanies, and not until century
ago THAT %ley entered In to possess the
land upon which we now stand.
Wa have met here today to commemor-
ate the hundredth anniversary of the
event which more than any other, after
the foundation of the government and al
ways excepting its preservation. deter
mined the character of our national life
determined that we should be great
expanding nation instead OF relatively
small one
Not Beginning of Expansion.
OF course Il was not with the Louisiana
Purchase that our career OF expansion be-
gam In tir middle nf the, revolutionary
war the Illinois region including the pres
ent states of Illinois and Indiana, was
added to our domain by force of arms, as
a sequel to the adventurous expedition Of
George Rogers Clarke and his frontier RI
zen. Later the treaties of Jay and
kney materially extended our real
'res to the west. But none of these
was of so striking a character
the popular imagination. The
colonies had always claimed
.ghts stretched westward to
IL and vague and. anreal
'afs.s 'Yere unit made
IN bent, and -iiplom-
=eo i've the impress
es. Westward move
were little or more
already existing ma
d be no Illusion about the
the vast territory beyond
.ippi, stretching westward to
c. which in that day was known
ia. This immense region was
he territory of foreign pow
'pean kingdom. None of our
err laid claim to foot of
ion could In no sense be
lding out any existing
re acquired 1t we r1ade
u that consciously and
ID embarked on a car
Vt we had taken our
ring and hardy ma
With the hope and
-.,ning high position among
tn at powers of the earth. As is so
often the case in nature, the law of de-
velopment Of living organism showed it
self In Its actual workings to be wiser
that the wisdom of the wisest.
Our Greatest Work.
This work of expansion was by far the
greatest work of our people during the
years that intervened between the adop-
ton of the constitution and the outbreak
of the civil war. There were other ques-
tions of real moment and Importance and
there were many which at the time SEEM
ed such 70 those engaged In answering
them. but the greatest feat of our fore
fathers of these generations was the deed
OF the men who, with pack train or wag-
on train on foot, on horseback. or by
boat upon the waters. pushed the from
tier ever westward across the continent.
Never before had the world seen the
kind of national expansion which gave
our people all that part of the American
continent lying west of the thirteen orig
inal states. the greatest landmark In
which was the Louisiana Purchase Our
triumph IN the process of expansion was
indissoubly bound up with the success
of our PECULIAR kind of federal govern
ment and this success has been so com
plete that because of its very complete
ness we now sometimes fail to appreciate
not only the al-importance but the tire.
mendous difficulty of the problem with
which our nation was originally faced
When our forefathers Joined to call into
being this nation. they undertook a task
for which there was but little encourages
ing precedent The development OF civil
ization from the earliest period seemed
to show the truth of two propositions:
In the first place, 1t had always proved
exceedingly difficult to secure both free
dom and strength In any government;
and In the second place, II had always
proved well-nigh impossible for a nation
to expand without either breaking up or
becoming a centralized tyranny. With
the success OF effort to combine a
strong and efficient national union, able
to put down disorder at home and to
maintain our honor and interest abroad.
/ have not now to deal. This success was
signal and all-important, but 1t was By
no means unprecedented In the same sense
that oar type of expansion was unprece-
dented The history OF Rome and NJ
Greece illustrates very well the two types
OF expansion which had taken place in
ancient times and which had been uni
versally accepted as the only possible
types lp to the period when as nation
we ourselves began to take possession Of
this continent The Grecian stat
formed remarkable feats Of g
but Zach colony. as
ated.x became entrel