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#LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. # 
 
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 [FORCE COLLECTION.] | 
 
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 J UNITED STATES OP AMERICxl. J 
 
OF 
 
 THE RISE AJVD PROGRESS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ilWftf ¥ Stiltf «i» 
 
 AND 
 
 OF THEIR PRESENT CONDITION. 
 
 ACCOMPANIED 
 
 BY SUGGESTIONS OF THE PROPER POLITICAL MEANS TO STRENGTHEN AND PER- 
 PETUATE THEIR UNION J TO SUPPORT AND INVIGORATE THEIR POWER, AND 
 TO CONSOLIDATE AND ESTABLISH THEIR PROSPERITY AND HAPPINESS : ON 
 THE BASIS OF CORRECT KNOWLEDGE DIFFUSED BY A JUST, CHEAP, AND 
 JUDICIOUS SYSTEM OF 
 
 GENERAL, EJDUCATIOJf, 
 
 OF 
 
 A pure and sublime piety, neither debased by superstition, fettered by forms, ov 
 obscured by dogmas : Of an impartial justice, administered speedily, cheaply, 
 firmly, and humanely, protecting every ri^ght, and punishing every wrong, in 
 proportion to its mischief: and of a general industry, stimulated and clierishec\ 
 iiy laws, affording equal support to every species of labour. SuCh a system 
 must generate a generous and sublime morality, which will render our repub- 
 b'c indistructihle, and was forcibly suggested to the writer by a long and labori- 
 ous journey through the states of 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA, OHIO, KENTUCKY, INDIANA, ILLINOIS, MISSOURI, 
 AND VIRGINIA, IN THE YEAR 1820. 
 
 BY A CITIZEN OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 ^ 
 
 WASHINGTON : 
 
 PP.INT-P V.r TIAVT^ y- ■■^nry., CfRANKLIN's head, PT•^J^•SYLV^\^\ AVE-NUK 
 
A 
 
 OF 
 
 THE RISE ^JV2) PROGRESS 
 
 OF THE 
 AND 
 
 OF THEIR PRESENT CONDITION : 
 
 IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND. 
 
 St. Louis, Missouri, August 1, 1820. 
 
 SIR : It is impossible to contemplate the various and mo- 
 inentous changes during the last sixty years, in the dominion 
 of that vast country beyond the ancient bounds of the British 
 colonies in North America, comprised within the present li- 
 mits of the United States, without being filled with deep won- 
 der and reverential awe towards the Almighty ruler of the 
 Universe, by whose powerful and inscrutible agency, it has 
 been consolidated into one great empire, whose broad founda- 
 tion rests on the equal rights of man. 
 
 During that period, we have beheld the sanguinary wars be- 
 tween France and England for this immense domain, and the 
 success of the latter, compelling the surrender of " all the 
 country East of the Mississippi," except a small portion attach- 
 ed to Louisiana, whose bounds reached from the Atlantic to 
 the Pacific ocean ; and was at the same time, in the year 1 763, 
 ceded by France to Spain, in exchange for the Floridas, ceded 
 to Great Britain. 
 
 We have since seen a struggle arise between the thirteen 
 British colonies, New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Is- 
 land, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
 Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South-Caro- 
 lina, and Georgia, in defence of their civil, religious, and 
 political rights, and the parent state ; and this struggle termi- 
 nating in the establishment of their independence, and a ces- 
 sion to them, by Great Britain, of all the country, from the 
 confines of New-Brunswick to the east, and along the Cana- 
 dian boundary to the north, to Lake Ontario, and through it 
 Lakes Erie, Huron, and Superior, to the Lake of the Woods ; 
 
4 
 
 thence to the river Mississippi, down that river to the 3 1st de- 
 gree of north latitude, and thence to the head of St. Mary's 
 river, and down that river to the Atlantic ocean. Again, we 
 have also seen the imense region of Louisiana re-ceded by 
 Spain to France, and finally ceded by the latter to the United 
 States ; and at last, we have beheld East and West Florida 
 recovered by Spain from Great Britain, in the year 1783, re- 
 cently pass into their hands ; thus giving an extension ta 
 oar maritime frontier, from the north eastern coast of the 
 State of Maine, to the mouth of the Sabine, in the Gulph oi 
 Mexico. And these immense acquisitions have been made 
 within the short space of forty years, and by means to human 
 view so inadequate, that we must attribute them to an all-wise 
 and superintending Providence, beyond doubt intending there- 
 by to accomplish some permanent and great good to the human 
 race, not yet fully developed, nor yet perhaps wholly conceal- 
 ed. May we not, then, with humble pride, regard ourselves 
 like the Israelites of old, a chosen people, appointed by omni- 
 potent wisdom to spread over this immense space, the genuine 
 principles of freedom, springing from, and supported by, the 
 benign precepts of that revelation imparted to mankind by 
 Christ, in which our duties to God, to ourselves, and to socie- 
 ty, are so plainly laid down, that no other rules of conduct 
 would be required for the government of man, if he would 
 obey these. Then might laws and magistrates be dispensed 
 with, and temporal punishments and rewards become unneces- 
 sary. 
 
 Viewing ourselves in this light, what an awful responsibility 
 devolves on this nation ! How just, how forbearing, how self- 
 denying, how patient, how sedulously studious, ought we to 
 be, to accomplish the benevolent designs, of the Almighty ; 
 thus founding our fame on the general spread of pure and un- 
 defiled piety and virtue, and their inseparable concomitants, 
 liberty and happiness ; looking with contempt on the blood- 
 stained glory of war, and the reeking spoils of foreign con- 
 quests ; building our power and our [)rosperity on the immove- 
 able rocks, benevolence, charity, and justice, and the indus- 
 trious improvement of those great natural resources, which a 
 bountiful God has bestowed on the country which we possess. 
 
 It is a happy circumstance, that our system of government is, 
 perhaps, better organised to accomplish this divine scheme of 
 human order and human happiness, than any which has pre- 
 ceded it, if wc should have the art and steadiness to preserve 
 the proper action in the complicated machine. 
 
 By us, the powers of goverimient are divided between two 
 distinct depositaries — one relating to the general concerns of 
 
the nation, the other to the particular interests of tlie states 
 composing the nation. The first is vested with the controul 
 of all our external relations, with the care of our inleroal peace 
 and safety, and cloathed with the power of guarding and pro- 
 moting all our common interests of every kind; while the last, 
 confined to limited territories, can better know and provide 
 for the local wants and necessities of the people within their 
 respective bounds, andean more aptly establish those particu- 
 lar municipal rules, which, though more minute, are not less 
 essential to the preservation of the good order and well being 
 of our society ; and as our vacant territory shall become filled 
 with people, new states may be added to our system without 
 deranging it. and thus, in the course of time, it may be extend- 
 ed over the whole of our vast domain. 
 
 Our plan of government may then be compared, not unapt- 
 ly, to that which controuls the planetary sytem, of which the 
 globe which we inhabit forms a part. In the latter, that great 
 orb, the sun, sheds its beneficent beams equally on those bo- 
 dies of matter which, in their appointed times, revolve around 
 it, and confines, by the powerful principles of gravitation and 
 repulsion, each to its proper sphere. Thus ought our nation- 
 al government to extend the warmth of its invigorating heat to 
 every member of our social system ; thus ought it to guard 
 each from harm, by confining each within its assigned track, 
 so that no collision take place, to interrupt, in any part, the 
 harmony essential to the good of the whole. Such was intend- 
 ed to be its action, and such, according to its theory, ought it 
 to be. But, unlike our planetary system, ruled by the uniform 
 and unvarying laws of matter, it is incapable of the same stea- 
 dy and unchanging course ; its motion is hourly subject to be 
 deranged by human passions ; therefore, its centrepetal and 
 centrefugal force does not admit of the same equipoise. Mo- 
 ral causes, springing from human passions, various and difficult 
 to controul, govern our system. The well-being of our gov- 
 ernment, like all other governments which have preceded it, 
 depends on its capacity to restrain these passions from doing 
 harm, and to direct them to useful objects. How to eflect 
 this, has been the subject which has employed the minds of 
 the sages and patriots of all ages, and the result of all experi- 
 ence is, that the wisest laws, unless supported by general man- 
 ners, emanating from a fixed and solid impression of moral 
 justice, will soon cease to have the intended effect. There- 
 fore, the most celebrated founders of ancient rcpnblicks en- 
 deavoured, by the force of education, to implant in the infant 
 mind, those principles of moral justice, essential to the well- 
 bejng of the society ; sensible, " that just as the twig is bent, the 
 
6 
 
 tree's inclined." They deemed it necessary to instil into 
 the child, that which would make him virtuous and useful 
 in man-hood ; and first in order, piety to God ; second, 
 reverence to parents, the representatives in their families of 
 God on earth ; and lastly, benevolence and justice to all men. 
 Unless a society be deeply and generally imbued with these 
 principles, laws have ever been found inefficient, and punish- 
 ments unavailing. And whenever curruption has supplanted 
 the moral habits springing from such principles, it has been al- 
 ways a task very difticult, often impossible, to bring back the 
 society at once, if ever, to its primitive standard. Thus So- 
 lon, when called upon by the Athenians, to prepare for them 
 a form of government, not being able to establish the best, was 
 obliged to content himself with giving them the best which 
 their manners would endure. Whenever, in the infancy of a 
 republick, a just system of education has been adopted, we 
 have seen it flourish as long as the primeval manners created 
 thereby were maintained. Thus Lacedemon existed for moVe 
 than seven hundred years ; and other commonwealths have 
 ilourishcd in like manner for shorter periods. But it is more 
 proper and important for the people of the United States to 
 look to their own condition, not to copy too much antient 
 examples, but to observe the political phenomena of their 
 own times and country. In modern Europe, the establish- 
 ment of republican governments has had great difficulties 
 to encounter, from the vices and corruptions incident to all 
 communities which have long existed, and consequent from 
 the wars, in which, from their history, we find they have been 
 perpetually engaged ; but more especially from the ignorance 
 of the mass of the society, before the art of printing had dis- 
 seminated more correct notions of religion and of civil govern- 
 ment, and spread abroad a knowledge of the useful arts. But 
 even from this important epoch, when Europe may be said to 
 have taken a new start on the road of civilization, the improve- 
 ments in the art of government, the most important to human 
 happiness, have been slow, and every government of Europe 
 yet displays, in a greater or less degree, the vices of former 
 habits and institutions; of these the most conspicuous at this 
 day, are bigotry in religion, royal and aristocratical distinc- 
 tions and privileges, and an union of the civil with the military 
 power, each sup[)orting the other, at the expense and by the 
 oppression of the great mass of the society. The shaking ollj 
 by many states, of the dogmas of the Church of Kome, and of 
 the ecclesiastical power incident thereto, which it then exer- ' 
 cised over Europe, seems to have been the natural conse- 
 qt'.cnce of the discovery of the art of printing ; and this was more 
 
speedily accomplished in England, and stedfastiy maintained 
 from its insular situation, and the latent principles of Anglo 
 Saxon liberty, which the tyranny of her kings had not been able 
 entirely to extirpate. But the rejection of the ecclesiastical 
 supremac)* of Rome, had yet there no sensible effect in shaking 
 off the shackles of religious bondage ; the King, instead of the 
 Pope, became the head of the English church, which at first 
 was as dogmatic and intolerant as that from which it had se- 
 vered ; and conformity to religious worship was enforced by 
 the same cruel means. But neither the block nor the stake 
 could wholly stifle free enquiry amongst an acute and high- 
 minded peope. Yet vain would have been every effort to re- 
 sist the established church of England, if North America, which 
 had been recently discovered, and in part taken possession of 
 by England, had not afforded an asylum to those who dissent- 
 ed from the forms of worship establishedby the national church. 
 Here was a new world, which, if destitute of the improvements 
 and refinements of Europe, was at the same time free from its 
 vices and deep rooted oppressions. Here, too, was found a 
 race of men, unknown till the discovery of America, and in co- 
 lour,manners,andhabits, unlike any which existed in otherparts 
 of the then explored globe ; little removed from the condi- 
 tion of the wild beasts, which, in common with themselves, oc- 
 cupied their immense forests, and therefore incapable of giving 
 tone to the manners of the new settlers. Animated by the 
 desire of civil and religious freedom, the first emigrants to 
 New-England abandoned the cultivated fields of Britain, and 
 all the comforts of civilized life, and cheerfully encountered 
 the perils of a boisterous ocean, and fixed their habitations on a 
 bleak and stormy coast, in wildernesses, the haunts of ravenous 
 and savage beasts, and then as savage men. What sufferings 
 were endured, and what dangers surrounded and impeded their 
 first establishment in this waste world, are recorded in the his- 
 tory of our country, and need not be here repeated. But 
 finally, all obstacles surmounted, all dangers subdued, they 
 made good their settlement, which has gradually expanded, till 
 their descendants, spreading over the land, have filled it witli 
 flourishing cities, productive farms, and every art necessary to 
 embellish, to cherish, and support social life. Here they huill 
 their social edifice on the base of the equal rights of man. Here 
 civil and religious freedom were planted, and have taken such 
 deep and strong root as never again to be shaken by time. 
 The system of government first adopted was most simple in its 
 structure. Being few in number, the people were at first en- 
 abled to exercise the powers of legislation in person* This 
 principle has since been preserve<i in all merely local concerns^ 
 
8 
 
 by dividing the country into small districts called townships, 
 which admit of a f^eneral assembly of (he people, who appoint 
 their township ofiicers, and deliberate in full meeting on their 
 peculiar affairs, more especially concerning education and reli- 
 gion. From these rude beginnings, as the society increased, 
 representatives were chosen for the purposes of general legis- 
 lation. These legislatures, pursuing the intention of the first 
 settlers with regard to education, have uniformly adopted the 
 best regulations for the maintenance of schools, and the dis- 
 semination of useful knowledge, and the rude plans first devised 
 have been concocted into the most efficient system extant on 
 the face of the enrth. But knowledge without a proper sense 
 of morality, instead of being beneticial, has been often found 
 pernicious to society. It was therefore deemed necessary to su- 
 peradd to the acquirement of the most common and necessary 
 parts of learning, the fear and nurture of God — religion was of 
 course combined with scholastic instruction, and the pastors of 
 the church were generally employed to supervise education, if 
 not themselves to teach the infant mind. When and how, in 
 what manner, and by what minute degrees, the present system 
 of education was established in New-England, has not been 
 particularly developed in the general history of that country ; 
 nor is it very important to enquire into every circumstance. It 
 has been matured by degrees, till it has become the most per- 
 fect amongst men. For this purpose, it may have become 
 necessary to divide the whole country into townships, not like 
 the hundreds of Alfred the Great, to detect and punish crimes, 
 but for a more sublime object — to prevent crimes by bestowing 
 a proper education on youth. It is certain that this division 
 of the country into townships, suggested to the Congress of the 
 United States that excellent system adopted for the sale and 
 Hcttlement of their great western territory, which is first sur- 
 veyed at the public cost, divided into townships, sections, 
 half-section?, quarter-sections, and half-quarter-sections, the 
 latter amounting to eighty acres, with proper reservations for 
 roads and schools: by which litigation concerning titles is pre- 
 vented, and instruction in the essential rudiments of science 
 })rovided for and facilitated. 
 
 JN'o country in the Universe was ever peopled under such fe- 
 licitous circum'^tances. Several of the old states have imi- 
 tat('d Ncw-En<:;land, by dividing their counties into small dis- 
 tiicU, for the purpose of facilitating the elections by the peo- 
 ple, rendered now so frequent and necessary for the support 
 of our popular lorms of government. Would it not be wise 
 in every stale to adopt the system throughout ? Unquestion- 
 .ibly it would yf(\'!\r<' a considerable expenditure of money, 
 
but then we should obtain an accurate map of our countrj^ 
 understand its topography better, and might more readily apply 
 oiar laws to the preservation of good order and morals, to the 
 care of roads and bridges, to provision for the poor, to the free 
 exercise of the elective franchise, and above all, to the impor- 
 tant object of general education and instruction. Might it not 
 be made the especial duty of each county, at its proper ex- 
 pense, to make such a survey and division of its territory ? One 
 of the great benefits which France has derived from her revolu- 
 tion, next, if not superior in importance to the excellent code 
 of laws established by the Emperor Napoleon, was the destruc- 
 tion of the former demarkation of its provinces, the annihila- 
 tion of local privileges, and reducing them into more convenient 
 forms, described by natural boundaries, and divided into small 
 sections or arrondipsments adapted to the cheap and easy pro- 
 tection and good management of all local interests, and facilita- 
 ting to the government the execution of all its laws on general 
 concern*, particularly those of election. This hint is merely 
 thrown out for the consideration of those citizens who are 
 most especially engaged in the conduct of the political con- 
 cerns of the states composing our nation. But the division of 
 the country into small districts, for the purposes of common 
 education, is not more necessary than the manner and matter 
 of that education. The subsistence of man depends on labour; 
 and without labour society would perish. Therefore, this 
 common or general education should not be confined to the 
 mere knowledge of reading writing and arithmetic, and the 
 higher sciences ; but while strict care should be taken of the 
 morals of the youth, by the virtuous examples of the teachers, 
 and by permitting no books to be read, but such as are calcu- 
 lated to nourish a reverence for God above, and for justice and 
 benevolence to man below ; each individual ought to be ac- 
 customed to labour, and to be ever ready to apply his bodily 
 as well as mental powers to something useful to himself to 
 his fellow-men, and to society. Early habits of labour ought 
 to form an essential part of the education of our youth, such 
 habits being almost universally accompanied by the blessings 
 of temperance and health. In this important point, the schools 
 in New England excel all others. Every child, while acquir- 
 ing the capacity to read, write, and cypher, at the common 
 school, and at the common charge, (to which the rich and the 
 poor are equally bound to send their children, for there no 
 distinction of rank is allowed,) is employed either by his pa- 
 rents in some labour, or by those tradesmen to whom he may 
 be bound, in acquiring skill in some craft or art important to 
 'hp, eoTTTifort of man. Thus every individi^al is trained up in 
 
to 
 
 habits and instructed in the means of promoting his own hap- 
 piness, and adding to that of the community. He therefore 
 always feels conscious of independence, and is thus rendered 
 truly free and worthy of freedom. But it must be confessed, 
 that this system of education is more particularly adapted to a 
 community entirely free and equal. It is impossible to apply 
 it so efficaciously to a society in which one half are masters and 
 the other half slaves. This is an anomaly in human associa- 
 tion, inconsistent with the first principles of our governments : 
 but it is supported by the examples of the most famous antient 
 republicks — of Athens, of Sparta, of Carthage, and lastly of 
 Rome, which, under such a system, made herself the mistress 
 of the world. Then, however, to use the language of Jeffer- 
 son, the " emancipated slave might mix with, without staining 
 the blood of the master." This is not our situation. The 
 slavery tolerated in the United States is of a different descrip- 
 tion. The slave here is stamped with a mark, describing him 
 to be a different species of being from that to which he is sub- 
 ject. Whether this be the original stamp placed on him at 
 creation, or whether it be the mere effect of time and natural 
 causes, which work such wonderful changes in all the material 
 substances of which our globe is composed, must be left physi- 
 ologists to decide. All obscurity might at once be removed, 
 by supposing that the great first cause, which created that un- 
 numbered variety of animals which inhabit the earth, the sea. 
 and the air, might have created various species of man, rising 
 in gradation from the sooty black of Africa, to the fair and rud- 
 dy skin of Europe; and ordained that the inferior should serve 
 the superior orders. This idea, however, is generally deemed 
 inconsistent with the history of the creation of the world by 
 Moses. The fact is, whatever the cause may be, that there is 
 such a radical difference in the colour of the master and slave 
 in our country, that nature here seems to forbid the incorpora- 
 tion of the latter with the former in the same society on equal 
 terms ; and the slavery which now exists amongst us, however 
 it may be deplored, cannot with propriety be abolished by 
 emancipation and amalgamation. There seems to be no safe 
 and feasible scheme, but by colonization ; to effect which, the 
 humble means of the praiseworthy association now organized 
 for that purpose, are inadequate. It is therefore probable, 
 that the present condition of the southern states will remain 
 unchanged for ages to come. 
 
 The history of Moses has much puzzled the astronomers and 
 philoiiophers, both natural and moral, of these modern ages, 
 in which, not only the laws of matter and the system of the 
 universe, but the motives of human action, are perhaps better 
 
u 
 
 understood than in any former time. May not, however, this 
 history be reconciled to the natural phenomena, by regard- 
 ing it as the history of a particular people, selected by God for 
 a particular purpose, and that the object of Moses, like the 
 other antient historians, was to trace the race of Abraham, the 
 founder of the Hebrew nation, to some man who came imme- 
 diately from the hands of the Almighty ? For the traditions of 
 most of the antient nations of the world, have derived their 
 origin from some God or Demi-God. It was, and is, as much 
 within the compass of omnipotent power, to create many races 
 of men in colour and other qualities, adapted to the various 
 climates of our globe, as to have created but one. It must be 
 allowed, however, that in examining the phenomena of crea- 
 tion with the eyes of human reason merely, many things occur 
 to puzzle our minds, many are so far beyond our limited com- 
 prehension, that we are obliged at last to acknowledge, that 
 the ways of God are inscrutible by man, and that it belongs to 
 the omnipotent deity to manifest himself on earth in any shape, 
 form, or manner, which it may please him to adopt. There- 
 fore, all those miraculous acts, related in history, by which God 
 has appeared and instructed particular portions of the human 
 race, are not incredible, because they are not to be accounted 
 for by any of those laws which govern matter, or motives which 
 influence the conduct of man. The great Creator of matter, 
 bestower of animal life, and bountiful giver of that intellectual 
 mind possessed by man, is too far removed from our view and 
 examination, for us to know the laws of his action, or to trace 
 " his ways past finding out." Submission is our duty and lot, to 
 all his manifestations, in whatever light they may appear to us, 
 regarding them as parts, and intended for the good of the great 
 creation which he has formed. This is genume piety — a pie- 
 ty impressed by the universal face of nature — a piety strength- 
 ened too, by those particular communications, which the Deity, 
 by assuming the human or other forms, may sometimes have 
 made to man ; or by inspiration commanded his speciaj mes- 
 sengers or prophets to proclaim. These, when consistent 
 with due reverence and obedience to God, and good will to- 
 wards man, possess internal evidence of their divine origin. 
 Such is more especially the gospel of Christ, which commands 
 nothing which is not as important to our comfort and happiness 
 in his hfe, as to our felicity in that future and more pes feet 
 state of existence which we are taught to expect. Let not any 
 therefore think, that the writer, in endeavouring to reconcile 
 the Mosaic history to the phenomena on our globe, means to 
 doubt the divine origin of that revelation, which now happily 
 forms the basis of the religious worship of these United States. 
 
1^ 
 
 Regarding its internal purity as evidence that it emanated from 
 God himself, we would be disposed to adopt it as a divine re- 
 velation, if it were devoid of those many miraculous sanctions, 
 by which it has been established. We cannot, however, but 
 regret, that it has been obscured by the dogmas and commenta- 
 ries of the various denominations of Christians into which the 
 ■world is divided. But in the United States, the happy influ- 
 ence of our just and equal political institutions, is gradually 
 wearing away the asperities of religious contentions, and the 
 ritual worship, the observance of forms, is yielding to that 
 worship more worthy of God and useful to man, which con- 
 sists in the inculcation and practice of those sublime moral du- 
 ties, which are enjoined by the gospel of Christ ; which makes 
 roan really the brother of man. However various the modes 
 of worship, however distinguished the sects, for instance, in 
 the manner of baptism and other unessential forms, they all 
 unite in teaching these doctrines, " to do justice, to love mercy, 
 and walk humbly with our God," — "to do unto others that 
 we would they should do unto us, and to love our neighbours as 
 ourselves." — " This is the law and the prophets." — This is the 
 essence of genuine religion. " All the rest is leather 'and pru- 
 nella." However we have arrived at this universal tolerance 
 of forms, this pure and benevolent mode of worship by slow 
 degrees. It must be confessed, that our ancestors, the first set- 
 tlers of the wildernesses of North America, brought with them 
 no small portion of the dogmatic and intolerant spirit which 
 prevailed at that time in the countries from which they came. 
 And even the emigrants to New-England, though driven from 
 their native homes by persecution, became fanatics and perse- 
 cutors in many instances themselves 5 nor was it till the con- 
 test arose between Great Britain and our country, that politi- 
 cal rights and religious rights began to be better understood. 
 Freedom of thought as to the first, generated freedom of thought 
 as to the last, and by degrees, dogmas and forms have yielded 
 to the bright eflTulgcnce of thegospel,and the performance of the 
 practical duties inculcated by it, is justly regarded as the best 
 evidence of a pure and steadfast faith in that divine revelation. 
 The union of the states, rendered indispensable for our com- 
 mon protection from the danger which imminentl}' hung over 
 us from the superior power of Great Britain, has, too, had a 
 tendency to dissipate sectional prejudices, and excite mutual 
 regard and atl'ection, arising from our common dangers and 
 ellorts in defence of our common liberty, and especially is this 
 mutual liberality rendered daily more manifest, under the form 
 of the national government which now exists, which, in spite 
 '^f diversity of climate, variety of pursuits, and discordani 
 
v 
 
 »J 
 
 <*lements composing the social condition of the several states, is 
 every day making us more and more one homogeneous people. 
 Such are the auspicious circumstances under which we have 
 obtained the government of the immense territory now subject 
 to our rule. Let us recapitulate these advantages. — 
 
 1st. We are almost universally Christians — adopting the 
 Gospel as our faith and guide, unobscured by dogmas, unfetter- 
 ed by forms — in the simple plain and intelligible language in 
 which it was delivered to us. In this manner it is preached t» 
 us, and we are taught that we best please God when in all re- 
 spects we perform our duty to man. In fact, a genuine Chris- 
 tian can be no other than a good citizen. 
 
 2d. Our government is as pure and simple in its structure as 
 our religion — resting on the equality of human rights, instituted 
 by ourselves, and conducted by agents periodically appoint^ 
 ed by our free suffrages, and amenable to us for their conduct. 
 
 3d. In some of the states, a system has been adopted for the 
 general education of youth at the common charge, and in the 
 new states and territories, the United States have made provi- 
 sion by donations of land, forever to be used for that purpose. 
 With this aid, how negligent of their duty will these states be^ 
 if they do not establish a perfect system ! 
 
 4th. In the old states efforts are now making to enlarge the 
 means of education where the object has been too long neglect- 
 ed, and from the laudible zeal manifested, it is to be hoped, 
 that these efforts will be crowned with success, and that they 
 will not cease till in every state the same facilities may be af- 
 forded as are now found in Massachusetts and Connecticut. 
 To effect this object, let it be repeated, that it is important for 
 all the states to divide their country into small and convenient 
 sections, such as exist in those states, for this and other impor- 
 tant objects of local polity. 
 
 With the gospel preached as it now is — with the general 
 spread of knowledge by means of common schools, aided by 
 the virtMOus examples of teachers and of parents, we may hope 
 to render our system of government as enduring as time, and 
 till every nook of our empire with useful arts and improve- 
 ments, with virtue and happiness. This is an all-important 
 object, and the watchfulness of government ought to be un- 
 ceasing and unsleeping. It must be confessed, that in the slave • 
 holding states, the system of general education may require 
 modifications, and be attended with obstacles not found in those 
 untainted with that evil ; but it is to be hoped that these will 
 not be insurmountable. 
 
 There is no truth better established, than that the republi- 
 can form of government, resting on the people themselves, if 
 
u 
 
 they become corrupt, cannnot endure. Ignorance and irreli- 
 gion are the forerunners of corruption and superstition, and 
 whenever these shall seize upon the community, there will be 
 an end of liberty. To prevent the inroads of tliese destroying 
 monsters, is the sacred and fundamental duty of our rulers — ■ 
 both national and local, in their respective stations ; if these 
 should take possession of our land, we may then bid'' a farewell, 
 a long farewell to all our greatness" and happiness. Vain will 
 be the efforts of the few patriots and sages who may remain, 
 and endeavour to check the overwhelming torrent. 
 
 It is not to be believed, that in any age, or any country, that 
 arbitrary government was introduced, except by a necessity 
 generated by the previous corruption of manners ; and liberty 
 sn all nations has more often expired from the abuse of hber- 
 ty itself, than from any other cause ; an abuse, the certain off- 
 spring of the want of a proper moral instruction. It cannot, 
 hovpever, be denied, that physical causes have a tendency, in 
 a long course of time, to produce ignorance and depravity. 
 Man, like all other animals, requires his daily food to sustain 
 life. This food can be obtained only by the active exertions 
 of those faculties of body and mind which the God of nature 
 has bestowed on him. As the human race multiply, and the 
 means of subsistence decrease, the temptations to seize the 
 property of others are also multiplied ; self-preservation being 
 an instinctive impulse, common to man as well as other ani- 
 mals. When, therefore, we find a nation which has become 
 too populous for its means of subsistence, we never fail to see 
 amongst them every form of vice and squalid misery. In such 
 a state, all other considerations yield to the first law of nature, 
 self-preservation. The efforts of every individual are entire- 
 ly engrossed to obtain the means of subsistence. He has not 
 any time to devote to the improvement of his own mind, or the 
 education of his children ; and thus when unable to obtain sub- 
 -;istence by his own labour, he invades the property of others, 
 md theft, robbery, and murder ensue. As crimes increase, 
 the executive arm must be strengthened, till all power centers 
 sn the hands of a despot. 
 
 The avoidance, or postponement of a catastrophe of this kind, 
 to which, from the laws of nature, every nation at some period 
 of its existence may be liable, must mainly depend on the po- 
 litical institutions of a country. Habits of industry, of sobrie- 
 ty, the multiplication of useful arts, the judicious application of 
 labour, proportioned to the increase of numbers, all dependant 
 on a proper system of education, may for thousands of years 
 defer this fatal epoch. But it seems to have arrived in many 
 nations of Asia and Africa, and there to have established dcg- 
 
16 
 
 potisms as imifioveable as Mount Atlas. Nature, too, has 
 provided a remedy against the excessive increase of all ani- 
 mals, including men. There is a point beyond which it can- 
 not attain, even when a deficiency of food does not exist. Vital 
 air is as essential to life as food. When the air becomes une- 
 qual to support the number of animals which breath it, the ex- 
 cess is swept off by disease. Thus do the laws of the material 
 world, not only controul the moral action of man, but put 
 bounds to his life itself. But in the climates inhabited by the 
 people of the United States, from the variety of soils possessed 
 by them, and the great extent of unoccupied grounds, the pe- 
 riod must be very remote, if it can ever arrive, when they 
 ought to apprehend any such effects from physical causes. 
 Whenever our liberty shall perish, it will be the result of moral 
 causes. However these undisputed principles of nature con- 
 duct us to the foundation of human, and of all animal associa- 
 tion, we find this to be the love of self ; in man we find this to 
 be the ruling principle, and it may be assumed as a fact, that 
 there is no act done by him, which may not immediately or 
 mediately be traced to this motive. 
 
 " Search, then, the ruling passion, there alone 
 
 " The wise are constant and the cunning known/' 
 
 This, then, is We desideratum of government, to discovei 
 how to frame and adapt its laws to this ruling passion, so as to re- 
 strain the tendency of our actions to self, and, though proceed- 
 ing from selfish motives, direct them to the common good ; in 
 fine, " to make self-love and social the same." To take that; 
 act as an example, which of all other is most common, mar- 
 riage — an act on which essentially depends the continuance of 
 the race of man, nature impels the man to seek connection 
 with the woman for his own personal gratification, and on the 
 other hand, the woman is impelled by the same cogent motive, 
 to seek connection with him ; and by this union, a common 
 good is produced to themselves and to society — its perpeiuatio7i 
 being regarded as a good, and thus " self-love and social are 
 the same." This may be exemplified in every other act, even 
 when we are charitable, when we are hospitable, the vicissi- 
 tudes of human life rush to our view — we have been exposed, 
 or may be exposed to the same necessities. The reputation, 
 too, attending every act manifesting a triumph over selfish 
 principles, may subserve our ambition, by upholding us in pub- 
 lic estimation. Here it is just to human nature to say, thai: 
 even those who do not practise, respect the denial of self. 
 Though, therefore, such praiseworthy conduct may appear to 
 be the sudden impulse of pure and disinterested benevolence, 
 if we strictly analyze it, we may trace it to education, to obser- 
 
♦ 
 
 16 
 
 vation, and calculations of interest. In a state of nature, this 
 self-love has fe*v objects to act on. It is only when society 
 has received its artificial modifications, that the full display of 
 its powers is exemplified. Then come on the contests of ambi- 
 tion, the desire of eminence, the love of pleasure and of power, 
 and with these the love of money, that common standard, es- 
 tablished by the common consent of mankind, (how, when, oi 
 wherefore, it is not necessary now to enquire,) as the common 
 measure of the value of all sublunary good. This, therefore, 
 is sought for with the greatest avidity, and in every possible 
 mode, as the necessary mean of obtaining all other gratifica- 
 tions. And it is certain, that in all ages, of which we have any 
 records, this has been the most universal and dominant passion, 
 especially amongst civilized men ; and in proportion to the 
 protection given to property, has this passion been stimulated 
 and increased. It is this protection aftbrded by government 
 to property, which forms, however, the distmguishing charac- 
 teristic between barbarous and civilized nations. Industry, im- 
 provement, and " all the soft civilities of life," mainly depend 
 upon it. But the misfortune is, that all governments are apt 
 to carry first principles to extremes, and more especially this, 
 till at last, as in England, even enlightened England, the pro- 
 tection of property is regarded as the principal object of socie- 
 ty, and liberty and life are without remorse sacrificed on the 
 cruel altars of avarice, which there too often smoke with hu- 
 man gore, mingled with human tears. Even in our own coun- 
 try, which boasts of equal rights, in this respect we continue to 
 be yet too servile copyists. 
 
 It is impossible, by any forms in the structure of government, 
 by any artificial distribution of its powers, to controul the 
 workings of self-interest so as entirely to prevent injury to in- 
 dividuals, and fraud on the community. It is too subtle and 
 too active a fluid to be restrained by the embankments of law 
 or constitution ; and like Proteus, it can assume so many, and 
 such various shapes, as to escape every fetter which the most 
 lynx-eyed government can put upon it. - 
 
 A republican form of government, resting on the basis of 
 equal rights, ought, and does allbrd, if not a perfect, (which is 
 impossible,) the most effectual guard against the wily, covert, 
 and insidious arts of this dominant passion. The citizens, pos- 
 sessing equal power and privileges, may be regarded as mutual 
 sentinels, each having a personal interest in restraining the in- 
 vasions of ambition, of avarice, and other selfish passions, not 
 only on his own rights and property, but on those of the com- 
 munity ; on the well being and just government of which de- 
 pends his own safety. Thus the self-inttrest of each, coming 
 
17 
 
 into contact and opposition, merges in a common action for 
 the common good. But whenever, by artilice, deception, or 
 force, an individual or an association of individuals — in other 
 words a faction, shall become possessed of the public power, 
 then the danger to life, liberty, and property becomes ex- 
 treme, and the rights and interests of the community are sa- 
 crificed to the gratification and caprices of those who have thus 
 obtained the rule — a rule which will be upheld by every pos- 
 sible art of corruption and lure to self-interest, by dividing the 
 public power and treasure amongst those who will support the 
 usurpation, and whose personal talents and courage give them 
 superior influence in society, until the new system is perfect- 
 ed and ramified through every part. But if, above all, an ar- 
 my, composed of the flower and strength of the nation, can, 
 by stipends, be brought to co-operate, then all hope of reform 
 is at end, without wading through oceans of blood ; and even 
 when the sanguinary effort shall be crowned with success, li- 
 berty rarely survives. The violent means used to effect the 
 victory, must be resorted to maintain the government of the 
 triumphant party. Thus, whenever military force is once 
 brought to act in the political contentions of a state, liberty is 
 disregarded, and the government, resting in the hands of the 
 strongest, is maintained by the same arbitrary means by which 
 it was obtained. In this manner the liberty of most of the an- 
 tient and modern republics have been overturned. However, 
 it must be acknowledged, that none of them were modelled ac- 
 cording to the plan of the republics of the United States. In 
 all there was an endeavour to mingle with the democratic the 
 aristocratic feature, so as to produce an equipoise between the 
 two, and which laid the foundation of perpetual contentions in 
 the state. It has been reserved for the North American states 
 to introduce new principles, by recognising the equal rights of 
 every member of the political association ; thus avoiding there- 
 by the contests between two distinct established orders. They 
 have also prevented the tumults, incident to the deliberations of 
 all numerous and promiscuous assemblies of the people, from 
 which reason is ever banished, and over which fraud and vio- 
 lence preside. They have endeavoured to reconcile order 
 with freedom, by providing that general legislation shall not 
 be exercised by the people in a body, but by representatives 
 periodically chosen by them, in a fair and equal manner, by 
 dividing the community into convenient districts for that pur- 
 pose ; so that no citizen may be too remote from the place of 
 election, and by providing forms by which the right of suffrage 
 may be exercised peaceably and freely, uncontrouled by fear 
 or force. These representatives they have divided into two 
 
 3 
 
bodies, each having a veto on the acts of the other, and so, (as 
 far as is practicable,) prevent the enaction of laws on the sud- 
 den impulse of passion, or to accomplish mere selfish, person- 
 al, or local objects, at the expense of the community. The 
 executive controul is vested in a person elected in like manner, 
 or by bodies chosen and vested with the power of election by 
 the people ; and whit is most important, the courts of justice, 
 the interpreters and administrators of the law, wisely are lifted 
 above the influence of faction, by being placed in a state of 
 independence, thus guarding their purity against all assaults. 
 Under a system so equal, so just, and so guarded, the people 
 of the United States have the best founded hope, that they will 
 be preserved from all those factions and calamities which have 
 heretofore destroyed the happiness and the liberties of the most 
 flourishing commonwealths. If, with such justice and wisdom 
 in the structure of our government — with such guards against 
 its improper action, the lust of power, of wealth, and distinc- 
 tion, shall at last prevail ; then may the human race abandon 
 the right of self-government, and submit themselves to be 
 ruled by the one or the few, without further struggle. The 
 last effort at self-government will have been made, and will 
 have failed. But this cannot happen if the people be true to 
 themselves. They cannot fail to be true to themselves, if 
 properly instructed in their rights and their duties. How 
 are they to be so instructed ? The foundations of knowledge 
 must be laid in their youth. Already the best mode of pro- 
 viding for this most important branch of political economy, 
 without which all other guards over the public liberties must 
 prove inetlectual and vain, has been discussed; but this alone 
 is not suflicient — useful employment should be given to the 
 mental and bodily faculties of every member of the Society ; 
 without such employment, the acquiring of the rudiments of 
 literary and moral knowledge in youth, will be of little avail ; 
 it is useful occupation which must give a proper direction 
 of this knowledge, to the practical and necessary objects of 
 human association •, by v/hich those habits and manners may 
 be generated, on which depend all our individual happiness 
 and social prosperity. The infinite diversity in the mental 
 and bodily powers of men, designate an infinite variety of ob- 
 jects to which those powers may be applied ; and as labour is 
 the great prop and stay of human life, it is a primary duty of 
 every government, to give an employment to each individual 
 adapted to his peculiar capacity. It is only by encouraging 
 those multifarious arts, by which the rude materials furnished 
 by a country, may be converted into things conducing to the 
 convenience and mutual comfort of the society ; that this em- 
 
• 19 
 
 ploymentcanbe given ; and thus, while the strong protect the 
 weak, the weak may he enabled to contribute to the accom- 
 modation of the strong ; and, as in the commonwealth ofants, 
 every individual may be made to add his mite to the common 
 stock. Without a system so universally operative, there must ; 
 be many unemployed, supported at the expense of the com- 
 munity, without contributing any thing to the common good ; 
 and it is found to be too much the fact, that every individual 
 not usefully employed, besides exhibiting the pernicious ex- 
 ample of idleness to others, will be pursuing objects hurtful to 
 society, for man is a restless, active animal. Next to a pro- 
 per education in youth, this then is unquestionably the most 
 important duty of every government ; and this we lind to be a 
 universal system of modern Europe, of the monarchies of Eu- 
 rope, to give employment to every individual, almost from in- 
 fancy to old age, by admitting into the consumption of the 
 country, no article which can be made within it ; excluding 
 those fabrics and productions of foreign nations, which can be 
 furnished by a proper application of their own industry ; and 
 none but the raw materials, and such articles of subsistence 
 which cannot be supplied by their own soil, are imported from 
 abroad. They act as communities on the same selfish prin- 
 ciple, which is so operative over the actions of individual man ; 
 and thus their independence and power are maintained, and 
 all their essential comforts and resources provided within 
 themselves ; and thus they are alike prepared to enjoy peace, 
 or to encounter with the most possible harm, the vicissi- 
 tudes of war. No nation can otherwise be regarded as tru- 
 ly independent. Those nations which adopt a different po- 
 licy, whatever may be their forms of government, however 
 they may boast of independence, are, in fact, dependent, for 
 their comforts at home, their power abroad, on the humour, 
 or temporary necessities of foreign governments. Thus, in 
 the United States, since Europe has been restored to peace, 
 and each nation has been permitted to resume its former sys- 
 tem, we have found the condition of our people universally 
 changed for the worse, while that of the foreign world, in re- 
 lation to wealth and power, is daily increasing. While Europe 
 admits only certain articles of the growth of the United States 
 into its markets, we admit all her products and manufactures 
 here, and with diminished means, purchase from her, while 
 she refuses to buy from us, except our cotton and tobacco, 
 flaxseed and potash, and a few other articles essential to the 
 support of her internal industry ; and those under such regu- 
 lations as to aid both her revenue and manufactures. All 
 other articles, the product of our agriculture or labour, are on- 
 
20 
 
 ly casually admitted into their consumption, when famine or 
 war produce a temporary necessity. Commerce, carried on 
 sucb unequal terms, must be disastrous and impoverishing to 
 the United States. Thus, we find all our monied wealth gra- 
 dually flying to Europe, particularly to England ; not only the 
 precious metals, but the evidences of the debt of the nation, 
 and of those banks which the cautious temper of the European 
 merchant can trust, are shifting from the hands of our citizens 
 into those of foreigners ; and in this way, too, the nation is 
 rendered tributary to the foreign world. And what have been 
 the effects of this exhaustion of our wealth ? Besides a ruinous 
 depreciation of real estate, in many states, to remedy the 
 evil, a resort has been had to a paper medium ; but this has 
 afforded no relief, except a trivial and partial one, and that 
 confined to the limits of each state where the effort has been 
 made; for out of those limits their paper will not circulate, 
 and even within is reduced to that ratio of value, compared to 
 gold and silver coin, which the commercial intercourse of 
 those states with the great trading cities on our seaboard, ren- 
 der inevitable. These will receive no payments which will 
 not be current in Europe. Our agricultural people are in- 
 debted to those who trade with these towns — these, in turn, to 
 Europe, principally to England. Few articles of our own 
 growth can be shipped as a remittance ; the residue of the 
 debt must be paid in the metallic currency of the world, or 
 that which is deemed in Europe equivalent, in the evidences 
 of the debt of the United States. Nor can those states who 
 depend on paper money for relief, accomplish the object 
 amongst themselves, but by compelling the receipt ol it in the 
 payment of debts; and if this were attempted, the little com- 
 merce which they now have would cease. It would, besides, 
 be a flagrant violation of the constitution of the United States. 
 Therefore, in all sales of foreign or domestic articles, its rela- 
 tive value to gold and silver will be taken into consideration 
 by the vendor, and an additional price added. Thus all pro- 
 jects of this kind will prove in the end illusory. But this is 
 not the worst evil ; these projects tend to loosen the moral 
 bonds of society ; they make the people careless of their en- 
 gagements, negligent in their business, idle instead of labo- 
 rious, depending on fortuitous events, but more on temporary 
 legislative expedients, to release them from their difliculties. 
 Nor is this last dependence one which is hopeless. When- 
 ever it becomes the interest of the majority of the people to 
 resort to such measures, in our popular forms of government, 
 it is impossible to prevent them. And it is possible, in the 
 couise of time, that the safety, nay existence, of the com- 
 
21 
 
 monwealth, may sometimes render such a resort not only ex- 
 pedient, but just. For crisis have arisen in former times, in 
 communities, which have not only rendered necessary the 
 aboHtion of debts, but a division of lands again amongst the 
 people ; and these have passed off without diminishing, for 
 any long period, either the growth or power of such commu- 
 nities. But they have almost always been the consequences 
 of precedent bad government ; not that calamities, springing 
 from natural causes — from earthquakes, tempests, pestilence, 
 and famine, the effect of seasons destructive of the fruits of the 
 earth, have not often aggravated the evils of an unwise and 
 improvident government, and hastened such epochas. 
 
 But in a country having so many natural advantages as that 
 which we possess, in climates, soil, productions of the earth, 
 and regular seasons, not equalled by any portion of the uni- 
 verse, with all the powers of government in their own hands, 
 the people of the United States, if they suffer calamities, can 
 impute them not to nature, but to moral causes, produced by 
 the want of a wise and just system in the administration of 
 their concerns. Nor can the national government be excused 
 for their neglect of the fundamental interests of the nation, 
 from a defect of the necessary power. The people have 
 clothed it with all the powers requisite to establish the pros- 
 perity of the nation at home, and its respect abroad. But it 
 has egregiously neglected its duty ; first, possessing the power 
 of regulating, not only foreign commerce, but the commerce 
 between the states, in not establishing one uniform monied 
 medium of exchange, by which the value of property might 
 be measured by an equal standard in every part of the United 
 States. What this medium should consist of, was not so impor- 
 tant as that it should possess a certain and stable value, alike 
 in all places. The national government ought to have put its 
 imperative veto on those various attempts of the states to sup- 
 ply this currency, through the instrumentality of incorporated 
 banking companies, a most anti-republican process, till the pro- 
 lific brood of these monsters has spread, not only into every 
 state, but almost into every village of the United States; and 
 such a diversity of currency has been put into circulation, that 
 it has become a science to ascertain the relative value of each 
 to the metallic medium of the nation. But, perhaps, this evil 
 now admits of no remedy, but like one of those violent dis- 
 eases of the human body, which cannot be arrested, must be 
 left to take its progress, and to cease by the waste of its own 
 strength. 
 
 2d. The national government has been too anxious to extend 
 instead of improving their domains. It has scattered the peo- 
 
22 
 
 pie of the United States, it has spread their pecuniary wealth 
 over so great a surface, till the nation is impoverished, «o as to 
 be hardly able to afford the means of maintaining its govern- 
 mental establishments •, and from this and other causes, indi- 
 viduals are suffering under pressures which, perhaps, there is 
 no power in the states, or the United States altogether, to re- 
 move, without resorting to first principles, or permitting a local 
 renversment of the present relations of the citizens to each 
 other. This last is unquestionably the least objectionable 
 course. If the people and government can pass through the 
 ordeal, they may, like gold seven times tried, shine with more 
 resplendent lustre, and, chastened in the school of adversity, 
 may be taught to devise better methods to guard and promote 
 their happiness. 
 
 3d. The proper education of youth has been too much ne- 
 glected, except in the JSew-England states. This blame at- 
 taches more especially to the state governments, who possess 
 almost the sole power of regulating this as all other merely lo- 
 cal concerns. 
 
 4th. The national government, as incident to their para- 
 mount controul over the commerce of the nation, has failed in 
 its duty in neglecting to facilitate the intercourse between the 
 different parts of the republic, by means of roads and canals. 
 But, perhaps, this is not now so important, as they have neglect- 
 ed that which is most important. 
 
 5th. To establish an efficacious system for the encourage- 
 ment of internal industry, so as to give employment to every 
 citizen, useful and profitable to himself and to the nation ; by 
 which omission these United States, after the termination of a 
 glorious war, so far as courage and military and naval talents 
 can confer glory, have, in the space of eight years, been re- 
 duced to a dependence on Great Britain, more degrading and 
 injurious than their former colonial condition, as of our own 
 free will and accord we have become voluntary tributaries to a 
 people, whom we would not permit, fifty years ago, to impose 
 on us the most trivial tax. And, from the diversity of opinions, 
 from the supposed, not real contrariety of interests, but, above 
 all, from that demon which threatens to destroy our Union, 
 namely, the jealousy of power, now excited between the slave 
 holding and non-slave holding states, it may have become im- 
 possible, and forever hereafter hopeless, to establish such a 
 system ; and more from the latter than any other motive, and 
 a local demarcation of parties may arise, which, in the end, 
 may prove fatal to the union of these states. 
 
 Yes, there is a supposed, not a real, contrariety of interests. 
 In fact, it is the variety of occupation, in every well regulated 
 
23 
 
 community, which produces a consentaniety of interests. Tims, 
 when each occupation is equally encouraged and protected by 
 the government — the farmer, for instance, furnishes food to 
 the shoemaker, while the shoemaker furnishes shoes to the 
 farmer ; the grazier furnishes wool to the clothier, and he, in 
 turn, cloth to the grazier. And so in every other art and vo- 
 cation, each gives support to the other, and all co-operate for 
 their mutual accommodation and for the henefit of the society. 
 This is the natural course of things in every country in which 
 each occupation of the citizens enjoy the equal protection of 
 the laws. This cannot happen if foreign nations are permitted 
 to interfere with the industry of any particular classes of the 
 people, by the introduction of fabrics made abroad cheaper at 
 first than those which might be made at home. These artists, 
 in such cases, retire before the foreign competitors, and resort 
 to some other vocation to obtain a support. The weaver 
 must quit his loom, the shoemaker his last, and the taylor his 
 goose, to become cultivators, and raise some article from the 
 earth, which a foreigner may condescend to buy, and thus en- 
 able him to purchase those necessaries, which, without foreign 
 competition, he might have obtained from a trade, for which 
 his natural capacity fitted him, and in which he was skilful. 
 Who does not perceive that such a system has the tendency 
 to expel every useful art from a country, and, in the end, to 
 make its inhabitants the drudges and dependents of foreign na- 
 tions ; in fact, to make the whole community agriculturalists, 
 and entirely dependent on the ingenuity and industry of stran- 
 gers, for every essential manufacture ; thus assuming in effect, 
 though not in name, the colonial character. But the effect of 
 such an intercourse would not be so mischievous, if the foreign 
 nations with which we dealt, permitted the same free intro- 
 duction into their countries of the products of our labour of 
 every kind. Then might both parties make reciprocal ex- 
 changes to mutual advantage. But when we admit freely all 
 the products of foreign nations, while they exclude ours, ex- 
 cept such which they cannot raise themselves, and are essen- 
 tial to give occupation to their people — here there is no reci- 
 procity. Here it requires no calculation to shew that a nation 
 which permits commerce on such unequal terms, must, in the 
 end, be impoverished, and become hewers of wood and draw- 
 ers of water to those with whom they deal. This consequence 
 is so plain to the most common understanding, that, with re- 
 gard to the United States, there would be but one opinion 
 and one feeling, if the foreign nation to which, in spite of her 
 unequal regulations, we yield the monopoly of our trade, had 
 not the address to admit intoherport'^.on liberal terms, the two 
 
24 
 
 great staples of the southern and slave holding states, Cotton 
 and Tobacco. Here, then, between those states and Britain 
 there is an apparent reciprocity ; but even this reciprocity is 
 dependent on the caprice of a foreign government, and Bri- 
 tain enjoys those benefits which ought to belong to the asso- 
 ciated brethren in the other parts of the United States. And 
 ought they not to have a preference ? Are they not members 
 of the same family ? Have not their blood and treasure been 
 spent in establishing and maintaining our liberty ? But, say 
 some, this system of restriction on foreign arts to encourage 
 domestic arts, would be making the labour of one portion of 
 the United States give a premium to the labour of another 
 portion of the United States — it would be taxing one part for 
 the benefit of the other. Supposing this to be the fact, would 
 even this not be better than giving that premium to the labour 
 of a foreign country which would otherwise remain in our 
 own? Would it not be more wise to retain this profit within 
 the United States, increasing our national wealth, than permit- 
 ting it to obtain a fixture in foreign countries, enlarging their 
 resources, and enabling them at some future time to become 
 more formidable enemies ? Are we not thus feeding the Lion, 
 giving him strength to destroy ourselves ? Our national safety, 
 therefore, requires that we should encourage, in a just and 
 equal manner, every form of internal industry. 
 
 But, is it a fact^ that by such a system, the slave holding 
 States would be taxed for the benefit of the non-slave holding 
 States ? If the latter could supply the manufactures necessary 
 to the foruier, in exchange for their materials and bread stuffs, 
 would not this exchange be more beneficial to them, than that 
 with foreign countries, who permit only the importation of 
 ^)rour cotton and tobacco, and a few other articles essential to 
 the support of their manufactures, excluding our bread stuffs, 
 (the most important product of our soil) except in times of scar- 
 city? If manufactures furnished by our internal industry should, 
 in the first instance, be dearer than those imported from fo- 
 reign countries, this evil could not last long, if the system were 
 persevered in. Capital would not only be withdrawn from our 
 own commerce, navigation, and agriculture, and applied to 
 manufactures, but, from the freedom of our political institu- 
 tions, if a steady protection were given to our internal indus- 
 try, European arts and Capital would seek establishment and 
 employment amongst us ; till the profit on our own manufac- 
 tures would gradually be reduced to the lowest standard, while 
 that derived from agriculture and navigation would be increas- 
 ed. Thus the southern agriculturalist, furnishing not only the 
 raw material, but the bread to feed the manufacturer, would 
 
 y^ 
 
25 
 
 always have a certain and sure market for both in his own 
 country. Thus every class of our citizens would mutually 
 support each other, and the wealth of the nation be retained 
 amongst ourselves : useful arts established, and, above all, the 
 nation bound together by the strong ties of reciprocal interests 
 and dependence. It is certain, that since our last peace with 
 Great Britain, that our foreign commerce has been carried on, 
 not only on terms unprofitable, but ruinous to our merchants, 
 as has been our navigation to the shipholders, and our agricul- 
 ture to that portion of our citizens who have been employed 
 in raising the articles of subsistence. How much richer and 
 more flourishing would the nation have been at this time, if 
 that capital which has been wasted in a ruinous foreign com- 
 merce, in an unprofitable navigation and agriculture, had been 
 fixed to our soil in useful manufacturing establishments, which 
 would have given employment to an host of individuals fitted 
 for no other vocation, and absorbed the labour necessarily 
 withdrawn from unprofitable commerce, navigation, and agri- 
 culture ; thus giving to all the great objects of pursuit in the 
 community, commerce, navigation, agriculture, and manufac- 
 tures, one equal protection, and securing to each a due por- 
 tion of the capital and labour of the nation. It is only by such 
 an organization and distribution of capital and labour, that the 
 common prosperity, common interests, and common safety, 
 can be eftectually provided for. It is only by this mutual de- 
 pendence of the four great classes of the community on each 
 other, and this mutual exchange of the products of the indus- 
 try and ingenuity of each, that an amalgamation of ii;terests 
 and reciprocation of benefits can be produced, all essential to 
 that cordial union and nationality of feeling, which alone can 
 give strength, stability, and safety to our government, and H- 
 berty and prosperity to our people. 
 
 And have not the United States the means of living to them- 
 selves, building their power and happiness on their own natu- 
 ral resources, superior to any other people on the globe ? 
 What nation comprizes within its bounds such a variety of cli- 
 mate and soil — so many and such valuable productions of the 
 earth and sea, with such facilities of commercial intercourse, 
 and such water or steam power to give effect in the cheapest 
 form to the most extensive manufactories. " There is no defi- 
 ciency, then, in the means of establishing manufactories ■, such 
 as require cotton, wood, flax, hemp, tobacco, iron, leather, 
 coal, and clay, may be abundantly supplied, and with proper 
 encouragement, all the essential articles made from these 
 might be manufactured, not only to the amount of our own 
 consumption, hut to spare some to foreign nations. It is on- 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 ly in the article of woollen clothes that we are defective in the 
 material ; but sheep are readily and rapidly raised, and it 
 would not require perhaps more than ten years to supply the 
 staple for this manufacture. Other branches of husbandry 
 would diminish, less bread stuff would be raised, or rather less 
 relative labour applied to that object, which in quantity might 
 not be diminished, from the superior skill with which that la- 
 bour would be employed. For a flourishing condition of the 
 arts is sure to extend its benefits to agriculture itself, by the 
 improvement of the implements used, and a more judicious 
 application of labour and invention. 
 
 When a people form a national association like that of the 
 United States, the first duty, and it ought to be the first act of 
 the government, is, to provide for and protect in an equal de- 
 gree, all the great occupations of its people, whether derived 
 from individual characteristic diflferences, or the variety of lo- 
 cal aptitudes — they should consider themselves as one peo- 
 ple, and each portion give up a little of what appears to be 
 its peculiar interest, to promote that of the others. When 
 this is once made a fundamental regulation, and is established 
 on equal and just principles, the great difficulty is surmounted, 
 and all the future acts of the government will be confined and 
 readily applied to the improvement of the system, by remov- 
 ing incongruities, pruning excressences, and correcting ine- 
 qualities, till the whole system shall invigorate and support in 
 an equable manner every branch of the national industry. Bui, 
 it may be asked, how then is revenue to be raised ? Make the 
 nation rich by encouraging its internal industry ; prevent its 
 substance from being transported to foreign lands, and then the 
 government will find no difficulty in raising the revenue ne- 
 cessary to defray its just and proper expenditures, in some 
 equal and acceptable mode, and a free and prosperous people 
 will not object to any equal mode. But in the encouragement 
 of manufactures — in giving a proper and profitable employ- 
 ment to every species of labour in our country, a prudent go- 
 vernment will look with accuracy at its condition ; they will 
 select those articles which, with proper encouragement, we 
 can make from our own materials ; they will advance in the 
 work gradation, and not by a hop, skip, and jump ; they will 
 not absolutely prohibit foreign importations, but impose such 
 duties as will enable the American artist to compete with his 
 foreign rival, and to sell as low as he. These duties will raise 
 probably, a revenue adequate in our wants, for many years ; as, 
 from our rapidly increasing population, a diminution of imports 
 v/ill not occur, if ever, for a long period ; While, at one and 
 the same time, they will encourage useful arts amongst us, and 
 
27 
 
 give to the raisers of the raw material a domestic competitor 
 with the foreign ; and thus for our articles of subsistence, we 
 shall have a certain, and, as manufactures increase, an increas- 
 ing market at home ; and the home market, competing with the 
 foreign for our raw materials, will give a better price for 
 these ; a system which will so act as to increase the home 
 market for articles of subsistence, and both the home and fo- 
 reign market for the raw materials of manufactures, ought not 
 to be objected to by those who raise the articles of subsistence 
 and the raw materials. This increase of price would soon 
 over-balance the increased price which they might, in the first 
 instance, pay for home manufactures. But what will such a 
 system, persevered in for twenty years, effect ? A complete 
 separation and emancipation from the foreign world. Our in- 
 terchange will be amongst ourselves ; the agriculturalist will 
 supply the artist with his raw material and his food ; he, on his 
 part, will return back the raw material, in the shape of manu- 
 factures useful and comfortable to the tiller of the earth, and 
 on terms, because it will be the exchange of one labour for 
 another, more advantageous to the individuals concerned, 
 than can ever be afforded by a trade carried on with foreign 
 countries,* on the present unequal condition. Added to this, 
 this great national benefit will result — the profits of the indus- 
 try of our citizens will remain in our country, which will daily 
 increase the national wealth. With the increase of national 
 wealth, new modes of employment will develope themselves, 
 till we thus find in our land every art established, which can 
 embellish and enrich it, every moment bestowing new com- 
 forts on our citizens. It is by this system that England now 
 holds the topmost station in the world — it is by this system 
 that France rivals her, and the other nations of Europe en- 
 deavor to rival her, though in vain. The English government 
 respects the rights of persons and property more than the oth- 
 er European governments 5 therefore, till these advance to an 
 equal grade in the march of liberty, they must continue to cow- 
 er to her superior wealth and industry. But true to ourselves 
 we need not cower under the power or wealth of any nation. 
 We have that which no other nation possesses — we have an 
 expanse of territory which combines within itself all the tem- 
 perate climates, and all the most valuable productions of the 
 earth — we have a government founded on the equal rights of 
 man — here law rules, or ought to rule ; not the capricious will 
 of the one, the few, or the many — (here life, liberty and prop- 
 erty are safe — as safe, as just and equal laws can make them) 
 
 *This idea is beautifully developed in Adam Smith's admirable work on the 
 . "Wealth of Nations. 
 
28 
 
 — not that we arc exempt from the injuries and frauds, which 
 the vices belonging to human nature, however restrained and 
 punished, will i-ome times commit. Bui these are few incom- 
 parison with oiher countries, and less atrocious. 
 
 But to reap the full benefit of these advantages, we must 
 act as one people ; the baneful passions of avarice and the 
 iealousy of power must not divide — that nation into twain, 
 which Jiiutual interests, created by a diversity of occupation, 
 ought to make one. Yes, our pursuits are ditferent, but our in- 
 terests are tne same — we have a common interest in preserv- 
 ing our lih(;rty — we have a common interest in severing 
 ourselves from the other nations of the earth, whose govern- 
 ments, manners, and selfish maxims, will not permit them to be 
 our sincere friends, or generousenemies, whose royal and aristo- 
 cratic example is noxious and contaminating. 
 
 It is in vain for the southern or rather the slave holding 
 states to hope for the establishment of manufactures within 
 themselves equal to their v.ants — the genius of slavery is ad- 
 verse to and blasting to such establishments. All that they 
 can ever expect to accomplish will be to raise the raw mate- 
 rials, and the provisions necessary to support the manufactu- 
 rers, who may furnish them with the articles they want. — 
 And tlie question with them' is, plainly, will they prefer that 
 these should be the subjects of a foreign government, or their 
 own fellow-citizens ? whether they prefer nourishing the 
 wealth dnd power of foreign nations, to promoting the wealth 
 and power of their own country ? If they do they must soon 
 expect to become colonists in etl'ect, and the period may not 
 be long when they may be so in name. God forbid the arri- 
 val of that period. But it must arrive if this republic should 
 sever — they cannot sever without becoming rival, and from ri- 
 val hostile communities ; then foreign alliances and foreign 
 aid may again by degrees subject portions of our land to foreign 
 dominion 5 or if that catastrophe should uot happen, separate ri- 
 val and jealous commonv.calths may arise, and these, by that 
 progress of corruption, which has destroyed many an ancient 
 republic, first becoming separate monarchies, may finally 
 merge into one great kingdom or empire. 
 
 But it is painful to look at these possible events even through 
 the eye of fancy. May they never happen. While the south- 
 ern and slave holding states furnish the raw materials for a 
 great portion of our manufacturers, let Pennsylvania, ingeni- 
 ous, industrious Pennsylvania, and the other non-slave hold- 
 ing states, be employed in converting them into the fabrics re- 
 quired by their wants, and New England flourish from being 
 also our carriers on the ocean, as well as in part our manu- 
 
29 
 
 facturers, and always our brave maritime defenders ; then our 
 foreign commerce will be, as it always ought to be, confined 
 to the exchange of those articles of material which we cannot 
 use in our own country, for such as are convenient but cannot 
 be supplied by it — then truly, and not till then, may we boast 
 of our independence. 
 
 The writer could extend further his observations, for infin- 
 ite are the relations and duties of this vast country — he 
 might point to dark clouds in our political horizon, which por- 
 tend mischief if not ruin to our union, or that which must 
 produce it, the rendering the national head a Caput Mortuum, 
 
 The good sense and virtue of our people, will, it is hoped, 
 in the language of our immortal Washington, " frown upon the 
 first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of the 
 union from the rest, or enfeeble the ties which now link to- 
 gether its various parts." 
 
 Union heretofore has been the political panacea of our 
 land, whatever have been the errors of our government, 
 and they have not been few, or of trivial import, or the 
 injuries sustained from foreign nations, it has furnished till 
 now a healing for them all. By union we established our in- 
 dependence and liberty ; by union^we rescued ourselves from 
 anarchy under the wings of our present national government ; 
 by union we have passed through a second formidable war with 
 honour, and without any loss but that of money ; by union we 
 have preserved the internal peace of our land, and by union 
 we may ever defy the enemies of our liberty and prosperity, 
 whether they be jealous foreign nations, or ambitious traitors 
 on our own soil, aiming, by scattering the brands of discord 
 among our states, to obtain that eminence and power over 
 parts, which they can never hope to reach over the whole. 
 
 But to maintain this union, the bulwark of our peace, our 
 safety, our prosperity and liberty, the people must be enlight= 
 ened by a proper system of education — they must be bound 
 together by the ties of a common interest, created and cement- 
 ed by the equal protection of every form of internal industry, 
 to which the personal character and local fitness of the differ- 
 ent parts of our republic may peculiarly adapt them. Then 
 when we arrive at the maturity of our growth, we shall pos- 
 sess a sinew and bone, which, like adamant, will defy and re- 
 pel every attempt from without and from within. May the 
 great ruler of the universe, who hath hitherto guarded and 
 protected us through so many storms and difficulties, continue 
 to conduct us, until we attain thishaven of security, power, and 
 peace.