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036 - Chapter 30 · The American Revolution A Historical Overview Vol. 3

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty six of History the Rise, Progress and Termination
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  Speaker 1: of the American Revolution, Volume three by Mercy Otis Warren.
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  Speaker 1: This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information are to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination
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  Speaker 1: of the American Revolution, Volume three by Mercy Otis Warren.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty Part one, a survey of the situation of
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  Speaker 1: America on the conclusion of the war with Britain. Observations
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  Speaker 1: on the declaration of independence, withdraw the British troops from
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  Speaker 1: New York. A few observations of the detention of the
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  Speaker 1: western posts. The American Army disbanded. After the Commander in
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  Speaker 1: chief had addressed the public and taken leave of his
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  Speaker 1: fellow soldiers. General Washington resignes its commission to Congress. We
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  Speaker 1: have seen the banners of albey and displayed, and the
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  Speaker 1: penance of her proud Davy waving over the waters of
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  Speaker 1: the western world and threatening terror, servitude of desolation to
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  Speaker 1: resisting millions. We have seen, through the tragic tale of war,
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  Speaker 1: all political connection with Great Britain broken off. The authority
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  Speaker 1: of the parent state renounced and the independence of the
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  Speaker 1: American States sealed by the definitive treaty. The mind now
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  Speaker 1: willingly draws a veil over the unpleasing part of the drama,
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  Speaker 1: and indulges the imagination and future prospects of peace and felicity.
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  Speaker 1: When the soldiers shall retreat from the field, lay by
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  Speaker 1: the sword, and resumed the implements of husbandry, the mechanic
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  Speaker 1: returned to his former occupation, and the merchant rejoiced in
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  Speaker 1: the prosperous view of commerce. When trade shall not be
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  Speaker 1: restricted by the unjust or partial regulations of foreigners, and
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  Speaker 1: when the ports of America shall be thrown open to
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  Speaker 1: all the world, and an intercourse kept free to reap
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  Speaker 1: the advantages of commerce extended to all nations. The young
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  Speaker 1: government of this newly established land had, by the recent
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  Speaker 1: articles of peace, a claim to a jurisdiction over a
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  Speaker 1: vast territory reaching from the Saint Mary's on the south
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  Speaker 1: to the rivers Ancrois, the extreme boundary of the east,
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  Speaker 1: containing a line of post roads of eighteen hundred miles
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  Speaker 1: exclusive of the northern and western wiles, but partially settled,
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  Speaker 1: and whose limits have not yet been explored yet. The
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  Speaker 1: Lycean League, nor any of the combinations of the Grecian
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  Speaker 1: states encircles such an extent of territory, Nor does modern
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  Speaker 1: history furnish any example of a confederacy of equal magnitude
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  Speaker 1: and respectability with that of the United States of America.
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  Speaker 1: We look back with astonishment when we reflect that it
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  Speaker 1: was only in the beginning of the seventeenth century that
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  Speaker 1: the first Europeans landed in Virginia, and that nearly at
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  Speaker 1: the same time a few wandering strangers coasted about the
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  Speaker 1: unknown Bay of Massachusetts until they found a flooding in Plymouth.
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  Speaker 1: Only a century and a half had elapsed before their
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  Speaker 1: numbers and their strength accumulated, until they bade defiance to
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  Speaker 1: foreign oppression and stood ready to meet the power of
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  Speaker 1: Britain with courage and magnanimity scarcely paralleled by the progeny
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  Speaker 1: of nations who had been used to every degree of
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  Speaker 1: subordination and obedience. The most vivid imagination cannot realize the
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  Speaker 1: contrast when it surveys the vast surface of America now
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  Speaker 1: enrolled with ruteful fields, and the rich hervage of the
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  Speaker 1: pastures which had been so recently covered with the thick
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  Speaker 1: pactress of woods, when it beholds the cultivated vista, the orchards,
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  Speaker 1: and the beautiful gardens which have arisen within the limits
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  Speaker 1: of the Atlantic States. With a deep and brown, melancholy
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  Speaker 1: forest had from time immemorials sheltered only the wandering sandage.
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  Speaker 1: With the sweet notes of the feathered race that followed
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  Speaker 1: the track of cultivation had never chanted their melodious songs.
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  Speaker 1: The wild waste had been a haunt only for the
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  Speaker 1: hoarse birds of prey and the prowling quadrupedants that filled
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  Speaker 1: the forest. In a country like America, including a vast
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  Speaker 1: variety of soil and climate, producing everything necessary for convenience
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  Speaker 1: and pleasure, every man might be lord of his own acquisition.
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  Speaker 1: It was a country where the standard of freedom had
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  Speaker 1: recently been erected to allure the liberal minded to her shores,
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  Speaker 1: and to receive and to protect the persecuted subjects of
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  Speaker 1: arbitrary power, who might there seek an asylum from the
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  Speaker 1: chains of servitude to which they had been subjected in
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  Speaker 1: any part of the globe. Here it might rationally be
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  Speaker 1: expected that, beside the natural increase, the emigrations to a
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  Speaker 1: land of such fair promise of the blessings of plenty, liberty,
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  Speaker 1: and peace to which multitudes would probably resort, they would
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  Speaker 1: be exhibited in a few years of population almost beyond
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  Speaker 1: the calculation of figures. The extensive tract of territory above
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  Speaker 1: described on the borders of the Atlantic had, as we
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  Speaker 1: have seen, been divided into several distinct governments under the
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  Speaker 1: control of the Crown of Great Britain. These governments were
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  Speaker 1: now united in a strong confederacy, absolutely independent of all
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  Speaker 1: foreign domination. This several states retained their own legislative powers.
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  Speaker 1: They were proud of their individual independence, tenacious of their
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  Speaker 1: republican principles, and newly emancipated from the degrading ideas of
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  Speaker 1: foreign control and the sceptred hand of monarchy. With all
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  Speaker 1: these distinguished privileges, deeply impressed with the ideas of eternal happiness,
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  Speaker 1: we shall see, they grew jealous of each other, and
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  Speaker 1: soon after the peace, even of the powers of the
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  Speaker 1: several governments erected by themselves. They were eager for the
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  Speaker 1: acquisition of wealth and the possession of the new advantages
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  Speaker 1: dawning on their country from their friendly connections abroad, in
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  Speaker 1: their abundant resources at home. At the same time that
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  Speaker 1: these wayward appearances began early to threaten their internal felicity.
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  Speaker 1: The inhabitants of America were in general sensible that the
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  Speaker 1: freedom of the people, the virtue of society, and the
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  Speaker 1: stability of their commonwealth could only be preserved by the
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  Speaker 1: strictest union, and that the independence of the United States
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  Speaker 1: must be secured by an undeviating adherence to the principles
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  Speaker 1: that produced the revolution. These principles were grounded on the
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  Speaker 1: natural equality of man, their right of adoption being their
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  Speaker 1: own modes of government, the dignity of the people, and
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  Speaker 1: that sovereignty which cannot be ceded either to representatives or
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  Speaker 1: to kings. But, as a certain writer has expressed it,
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  Speaker 1: powers may be delegated for particular purposes. But the omnipotence
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  Speaker 1: of society, if anywhere, is in itself. Princes, senates, or
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  Speaker 1: the parliaments are not proprietors or masters. They are subject
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  Speaker 1: to the people who form and support the society, by
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  Speaker 1: an eternal law of nature which has ever subjected a
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  Speaker 1: part to the whole. These were opinions congenial to the feelings,
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  Speaker 1: and were disseminated by the bands of political writers of
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  Speaker 1: Otis Dickenson, Quincy, and many others who, with pathos and
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  Speaker 1: energy have defended the liberties of America previous to the
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  Speaker 1: commencement of hostilities footnote. The characters of Dickinson and Otis
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  Speaker 1: are wellnes known, but the early death of mister Quincy
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  Speaker 1: prevented his name from being conspicuous in the history of
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  Speaker 1: American worthies. He was a gentleman of abilities and principles
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  Speaker 1: which qualified him to be eminently useful and the great
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  Speaker 1: contests to obtain and support the freedom of his country.
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  Speaker 1: He had exerted his eloquence and splendid talents for this purpose,
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  Speaker 1: until the premature hand of death deprived society of a
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  Speaker 1: man whose genius so well qualified him for the investigation
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  Speaker 1: of the claims and the defense of the rights of mankind.
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  Speaker 1: He died on his return from a voyage to Europe,
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  Speaker 1: a short time before war was actually commenced between Great
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  Speaker 1: Britain and the colonies. The writings of the above named
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  Speaker 1: gentlemen previous to the commencement of the war are still
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  Speaker 1: in the hands of many, and a footnote on these principles.
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  Speaker 1: The due respect must ever be paid to the general
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  Speaker 1: will to the right in the people to dispose of
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  Speaker 1: their own money by a representative voice, and to liberty
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  Speaker 1: of conscience without religious tests. On these principles, frequent elections
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  Speaker 1: and rotations of office were generally thought necessary without precluding
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  Speaker 1: the indispensable subordination and obedience due to the rulers of
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  Speaker 1: their own choice. From the principal's manners, habits in education
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  Speaker 1: of the Americans, they expected from their rulers economy and expenditure,
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  Speaker 1: both public and private, simplicity of manners, pure morals, and
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  Speaker 1: undeviating property. These they considered as the emanations of virtue,
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  Speaker 1: grounded on a sense of duty and a veneration for
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  Speaker 1: the supreme governor of the universe, to whom the dictates
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  Speaker 1: of nature t chaw mankind to pay homage, and whom
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  Speaker 1: they had been taught to worship. According to revelation and
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  Speaker 1: the divine precepts of the Gospel. Their ancestors had rejected
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  Speaker 1: and flood from the impositions and restrictions of men vested
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  Speaker 1: either with princely or priestly authority. They equally claimed the
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  Speaker 1: exercise of private judgment and the rights of conscience, unfettered
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  Speaker 1: by religious establishments. In favor of particular denominations. They expected
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  Speaker 1: a simplification of law, clearly defined distinctions between executive, legislative
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  Speaker 1: and judiciary powers, the right of trial by jury, and
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  Speaker 1: a sacred regard to personal liberty and the protection of
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  Speaker 1: private property were opinions embraced by all who had any
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  Speaker 1: just ideas of government, law, equity or morals. These were
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  Speaker 1: the rights of men, the privileges of Englishmen, and the
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  Speaker 1: claim of Americans. These were the principles of the Saxon
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  Speaker 1: and ancestry, of the British Empire, and of all the
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  Speaker 1: free nations of Europe, previous to the corrupt systems introduced
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  Speaker 1: by intriguing and ambitious individuals. These were the opinions of
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  Speaker 1: Ludlow and Sydney, of Milton and Harrington. These were principles
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  Speaker 1: defended by the penn of the learned, enlightened and renowned Locke,
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  Speaker 1: and even Judge Blackstone, in his excellent Commentaries of the
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  Speaker 1: Laws of England, has observed a trial by jurying that
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  Speaker 1: liberties of the people went out together. Indeed, most of
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  Speaker 1: the learned and virtuous writers that have adorned the pages
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  Speaker 1: of literature from generation to generation in an island celebrated
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  Speaker 1: for the eary day and comprehensive genius of its inhabitants
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  Speaker 1: have enforced these rational and liberal opinions. These were the
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  Speaker 1: principles which the ancestors of the inhabitants of the United
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  Speaker 1: States brought with them from the polished shores of Europe
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  Speaker 1: to the dark wiles of America. These opinions were deeply
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  Speaker 1: infixed in the bosoms of their posterity, and nurtured with
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  Speaker 1: zeal until necessity obliged them to announce the Declaration of
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  Speaker 1: the Independence of the United States. We have seen that
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  Speaker 1: the instrument which announced the final separation of the American
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  Speaker 1: colonies from Great Britain was drawn by the elegant and
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  Speaker 1: energetic pen of Jefferson, with that correct judgment, precision, and
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  Speaker 1: dignity which have ever marked his character. The Declaration of Independence,
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  Speaker 1: which has done so much honor to them existing Congress,
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  Speaker 1: to the inhabitants of the United States, and to the
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  Speaker 1: genius and heart of the gentleman who drew it in
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  Speaker 1: the belief and under the awe of the divine Providence,
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  Speaker 1: are to be frequently read by the rising youth of
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  Speaker 1: the American States as the palladium of which they should
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  Speaker 1: never lose sight so long as they wish to continue
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  Speaker 1: a free and independent people. This celebrated paper, which will
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  Speaker 1: be admired in the annals of every historian, begins with
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  Speaker 1: an assertion that all men are created equal and endowed
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  Speaker 1: by their created with certain unailians rights which nature and
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  Speaker 1: Nature's God entitled them to claim. And, after appealing to
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  Speaker 1: the supreme judge of the world the rectitude of their intentions,
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  Speaker 1: it concludes, in the name of the good people of
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  Speaker 1: the colonies, by their representatives assembled in Congress, they publish
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  Speaker 1: and declare that they are and of right ought to
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  Speaker 1: be free and independent states, in the name of the people,
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  Speaker 1: the fountain of all just authority. Relying on the protection
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  Speaker 1: of divine providence, they mutually pledged themselves to maintain these
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  Speaker 1: rights with their lives, fortunes, and honor. These principles the
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  Speaker 1: Sons of Columbia had supported by argument, defended by the sword,
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  Speaker 1: and have now secured by negotiation. As far as the
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  Speaker 1: pledges of national faith and honor will bind society to
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  Speaker 1: a strict adherence to equity. This, however, is seldom longer
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  Speaker 1: than it appears to be the interest of nations or
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  Speaker 1: designing individuals of influence and power. Virtue in the sublimest sense,
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  Speaker 1: operates only on the minds of a chosen view in
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  Speaker 1: their breast, and will ever find its own reward end
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  Speaker 1: of Section thirty six.