The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-07-02
Caln1a9e
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaae. ID. D.

sermon. appropriate to the nation $
birthday, the preacher recalls the
events that have contributed to orr
countrys greatness and traces the Di
vine hand guiding It's destinics. The
text is Psalm lxxvii. II, 'S - will
remember thy wonders 80 81
During the coming weei> we, d citrate
bur birth as n nation. Our ip.sr this
morning therefore. should be pltriotic
The text have chosen invite rs to
"reminiscences. and the "reminiscences
need not he limited TO our own lives.
Like our famous writer. Edward Ever
EFT Hale. our thoughts may well in
clude '"rhe Memories of Hundred
Years. That book deals. for the
most past. with the youthful hist tory Of
this nation When | think of the Rev
olutionary war and the signing of the
Declaration Of Independence and the
forming Of the constitution of the Unit
ed States and the political supremacy
of Washington's government, | always
think of our government as n new
born baby In its swaddliug clothes,
But when | think of the government of
jefferson, Madison and Monroe aud
the great causes which led mp to our
civil war | think of the hoyhood and
Young manhood of our country. 1t Is
about this development of our govern
ment that would like to speak today.
Such q theme should offer rs Il wide
scope for n national sermon.
As read that interesting book the
fact which forced itself upon me was
that IN the beginning of the last cen
fury the complete unification of the
United States government had not
been established. Dr. Hale well said:
"On the 1st of January. 1901, the
United States was a belt on the Atlan-
tic senboa,tI of thirteen poor and weak
communities, occupying territory which
hardly ran back more than 100 miles
from the ocean They had united
themselves. but they did not know that
they were Il nation. Even the states
men Of that day would have written.
The United States are ready or are
prepared while an officer of ours to-
Vav WbUlu Suy. 1he thltcu ''t"'tS ID
ready or IS prepared" In other
words. though the constitutional con-
vention which formed the original
thirteen colonies into a federation had
assembled in 1887, yet up to the latter
part of John Adams administration
the different states still thought the
central government was of minor i'm
portance and that the state legislatures
had more power than the national con
gress
knew this fact was true of the be
ginning of George Washington's nd
ministrntion. but | did not think 1t was
SO clear down through, John Adams
term. When the first president was
inaugurated In New York city. 1t was
almost impossible for him to get strong
men to take positions under the United
States government In the United
States government today the most im
portant position next to the presidency
is that Of chief justice Of the supreme
court of the United States. Yet John
Jay. the first chief justice of the United
States supreme court. resigned his seat
In order to be candidate for governor
Of New York, in which contest he
failed Washington had the hardest
work to obtain proper men for his cab
met John Marshall who afterward
became the great chief justice Of the
United States supreme court, refused
the position Of attorney general, pre-
ferring to remain member of the Vir
ginia state senate.
As an illustration Of the low estl-
mate placed on positions in the Unit
cd States government in the beginning
Of the last century we find De witt
Clinton, United States senator from
New York in 1901, resigning his posi-
ton in the United States senate in or
der to become the mayor Of New York
city. Can you dream Of anything that
would be more incomprehensible to
the statesmen of the present day? The
idea our early statesmen had of the
union of tine states seems to have been
that of bond but little closer than an
alliance such as might bind two friend
~ European countries. But as they
came to realize that the union was one
for mutual strength and protection the
importance Of the central federation
assumed greater proportions. And so.
my brothers, as we thank God today
that the United States government has
grown into a cohesive unity we should
not be bitter or harsh in our criticism
Of those statesmen who in 1861 still
believed that the single commonwealth
was supreme John c. CalhOun's adj
vocacy of state sovereignty was the
natural sequence. of the thought, which
was almost universally prevalent when
Thomas jefferson became president.
that the United States was confed-
eracy Of seventeen commonwealth
rather than single government of
which the different states were only
integral parts.
The State Sovereignty Idea.
So universal was the idea Of state
sovereignty in Washington's time that
when the first president made his ia
nous tour Of the New England states
the governor Of Massachusetts at first
rcfuspd tO call unou George Washing