Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/97

Rh progressed, there were serious conflicts of interest and opinion, leading to fierce political strife, and ending in concession and compromise. The territorial acquisitions, becoming alternately the cause and effect of political contests, and complicated with questions of foreign policy, have applied the most severe tests to the centrifugal and centripetal forces of the Union. Questions growing out of the organization of acquired territory disturbed the federal relations when about to settle into quiet and routine. Each section in turn became dissatisfied, and threatened secession. The South, although making an early protest, was the last section to threaten secession, and the only section to carry its threats into execution. The Civil war applied the crucial test, and almost broke the cohesion of the parts. The South, which had made so many sacrifices to establish the Union, was required to make fresh sacrifices for its restoration.

The equilibrium of these forces could not have been maintained, or when disturbed, could not have been restored, without the constant operation of a silent force, operating upon the minds of men unexpressed, sometimes unconsciously, but always controlling the hearts of the American people. It was the same centripetal force which held together the thirteen sparsely settled colonies and enabled them, without constitution or government, to contend successfully against the greatest power of the world on land and sea, to win the battles of the Revolution and the liberties of America. It was the same force which attracted together the scattered elements, and organized them into a confederated republic, which brought to the Union prosperity and expansion, and which has made the United States the only great power whose boundaries have never receded.

This force is the sentiment, deep-seated in the heart of every American, the feeling of American brotherhood, a love for the American system of government, and confi-