Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/175

 Rh Presidents, which to-day constitutes the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota west of the Mississippi, Colorado north of the Arkansas, besides the Indian Territory and the Territories of Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.

Is it asked what she had added to the glories of the Republic? Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? Jefferson. Who led the armies of the Republic in maintaining and establishing that independence?" Who gave mankind new ideas of greatness? "Who has furnished the sublimest illustration of self-government? Who has taught us that human virtue can set proper limits to human ambition? Who has taught the ruled of the world that man may be entrusted with power? Who has taught the rulers of the world when and how to surrender power? Of whom did Bancroft write, "but for him the country would not have achieved its independence, but for him it could not have formed its Union, and now, but for him it could not set the Federal Government in successful motion"? Of whom did Erskine say, "you are the only being for whom I have an awful reverence"? Of whom did Charles James Fox say in the House of Commons, "illustrious man, before whom all borrowed greatness sinks into insignificance"? Washington.

What State first made the call for the convention that framed the Constitution? Virginia. Who was the father of the Constitution? Madison. Who made our system of jurisprudence, unsurpassed by the civil law of Rome and the common law of England? Marshall. Who was Marshall's worthy successor? Taney. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, Taney—these were her sons. Their illustrious examples, their eminent services, the glory they shed upon the American name and character were her contributions to the common renown. Is it asked where her history was written? It was written upon the brightest page of American annals. It was written upon the records of the convention that made the Constitution. It was written in the debates of Congresses that met, not to wrangle over questions of mere party supremacy, but, like statesmen and philosophers, to discuss and solve great problems of human government. It was written in the decisions of the country's most illustrious judges, in the treaties of her most skillful diplomats, in the blood of the Revolution, and the battles of every subsequent war, led by her generals from Chippewa to the proud halls of the Montezumas.