Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker volume 6.djvu/31

18 sion of the Democratic idea in America. The Old Testament helped it to forms of denunciatory speech. The works of Milton, Sidney, Locke, and the writers on the law of nature and of nations, were of great service. Rousseau came at the right time, and aided the good cause. Calvin and Rousseau, strange to say, fought side by side in the battle for freedom. It was a great thing for America and the world, that this idea was so clearly set forth in the Declaration of Independence, announced as a self-evident truth. A young man's hand came out of the wall, and wrote words which still make many tremble as they read. The battle for human freedom yet goes on ; its victory is never complete. But now in the free States of the North the fight is against all traditional forms of evil. The domestic question relates to the equal rights of men and women in the family and out of it; there is a great Social question,—"Shall money prevail over man, and the rich and crafty exploiter the poor and the simple?" In the church, men ask—"Shall authority—a book or an institution, each an accident of human history — ^prevail over reason, conscience, the affections, and the soul—the human substance?" In the State, the minority looks for the eternal principles of Right ; and will not heed the bidding of famous men, of conventions, and majorities; appeals to the still, small voice within, which proclaims the Higher Law of God. Even in the North a great contest goes on.

The Democratic idea seems likely to triumph in the North, and build up its appropriate institutions—a family without a slave, a family of equals; a community without a lord, a community of co-operators; a church without a bishop, a church of brethren; a State without a king, a State of citizens.

The institutions of the free States are admirably suited to produce a rapid development of the understanding. The State guarantees the opportunity of education to all children. The free schools of the north are her most original institution, quite imperfect as yet. The attempts to promote the public education of the people have already produced most gratifying results.

More than half of the newspaper editors in the United States have received aU their academical education in the