Part 2

Would you know the incalculable mischief of State pretensions? The American continent furnishes three different examples, each worthy of extended contemplation. There are, first, our Indians, aborigines of the soil, split into tribes, possessing a barbarous independence, but through this perverse influence kept in constant strife, with small chance of improvement. Each chief is a representative of State pretensions. Turning the back upon union, they turn the back upon civilization itself. There is, next, our neighbor republic, Mexico, where Nature is bountiful in vain, and climate lends an unavailing charm, while twenty-three States, unwilling to recognize the national power, set up their disorganizing pretensions, and chaos becomes chronic. The story is full of darkness and tragedy. The other instance is our own, where sacrifices of all kinds, public and private, rise up in blood before us. Civil war, wasted treasure, debt, wounds, and death are the witnesses. With wailing voice all these cry out against the deadly enemy lurking in State pretensions. But this wail is heard from the beginning of history, saddening its pages from generation to generation.

In ancient times the City-State was the highest type, as in Greece, where every city was a State, proud of its miniature sovereignty. The natural consequences ensued. Alliances, leagues, and confederations were ineffectual against State pretensions. The parts failed to recognize the whole and its natural supremacy. Amidst all the triumphs of genius and the splendors of art, there was no national life, and Greece died. From her venerable sepulchre, with ever-burning funeral lamps, where was buried so much of mortal beauty, there is a constant voice of warning, which sounds across continent and ocean, echoing “Beware!”

Rome also was a City-State. If it assumed at any time the national form, it was only because the conquering republic took to itself all other communities and melted them in its fiery crucible. But this dominion was of force, ending in universal empire, where the consent of the governed was of little account. How incalculably different from a well-ordered Nation, where all is natural, and the people are knit together in self-imposed bonds!

Then came the colossal power of Charlemagne, under whom peoples and provinces were accumulated into one incongruous mass. Here again was universal empire, but there was no Nation.

Legend and song have depicted the paladins that surrounded Charlemagne, fighting his battles and constituting his court. They were the beginning of that Feudal System which was the next form that Europe assumed. The whole country was parcelled among chieftains under the various names of Duke, Count, and Baron, each of whom held a district, great or small, where, asserting a local sovereignty, he revelled in State pretensions; and yet they all professed a common allegiance. Guizot was the first to remark that Feudalism, taken as a whole, was a confederation, which he boldly likens to what he calls the federal system of the United States. It is true that Feudalism was essentially federal, where each principality exercised a disturbing influence, and unity was impossible; but I utterly deny that our country can fall into any such category, unless it succumbs at last to the dogma of State pretensions, which was the essential element of the feudal confederation.

Feudalism was not a government; it was only a system. During its prevalence, the Nation was unknown. Wherever its influence subsided, the Nation began to appear; and now, wherever its influence still lingers on earth, there the yearnings for national life, instinctive in the popular heart, are for the time suppressed.

Curiously enough, Sweden and Hungary were not brought within the sphere of Feudalism, and these two outlying lands, left free to natural impulses, revealed themselves at an early day as Nations. When the European continent was weakened by anarchy, they were already strong in national life, with an influence beyond their population or means.

Feudalism has left its traces in England; but it was never sufficiently strong in that sea-girt land to resist the natural tendencies to unity, partly from its insular position, and partly from the character of its people. At an early day the seven-headed Heptarchy was changed into one kingdom; but a transformation not less important occurred when the feudal lords were absorbed into the government, of which they became a component part, and the people were represented in a central Parliament, which legislated for the whole country, with Magna Charta as the supreme law. Then was England a Nation; and just in proportion as the national life increased has her sway been felt in the world.

France was less prompt to undergo this change, for Feudalism found here its favorite home. That compact country, so formed for unity, was the victim of State pretensions. It was divided and subdivided. North and South, speaking the same language, were separated by a difference of dialect. Then came the great provinces, Normandy, Brittany, Burgundy, Provence, Languedoc, and Gascony, with constant menace of resistance and nullification, while smaller fiefs shared the prevailing turbulence. A French barony was an “autonomic government,” with a moated town, in contrast with an English barony, which was merged in the Kingdom. Slowly these denationalizing pretensions were subdued; but at last the flag of the French monarchy,--the most beautiful invention of heraldry,--with lilies of gold on a field of azure, and angelic supporters, waved over a united people. From that time France has been a Nation, filled with a common life, burning with a common patriotism, and quickened by a common glory. To an Arab chieftain, who, in barbaric simplicity, asked the number of tribes there, a Frenchman promptly replied, “We are all one tribe.”

Spain also triumphed over State pretensions. The Moors were driven from Granada. Castile and Aragon were united under Ferdinand and Isabella. Feudalism was overcome. Strong in the national unity, her kings became lords of the earth. The name of Spain was exalted, and her language was carried to the uttermost parts of the sea. For her Columbus sailed; for her Cortes and Pizarro conquered. But these adventurous spirits could have done little, had they not been filled with the exuberance of her national life.

Italy has been less happy. The pretensions of Feudalism here commingled with the pretensions of City-States. Petty princes and petty republics, restless with local sovereignty, constituted together a perpetual discord. That beauty which one of her poets calls a “fatal gift” tempted the foreigner. Disunited Italy became an easy prey. Genius strove in the bitterness of despair, while this exquisite land, where History adds to the charms of Nature and gilds anew the golden fields, sank at last to become, in the audacious phrase of Napoleon, simply a geographical name. A checker-board of separate States, it was little else. It had a place on the map, as in the memory, but no place in the present. It performed no national part. It did nothing for imitation or remembrance. Thus it continued, a fearful example to mankind. Meanwhile the sentiment of Nationality began to stir. At last it broke forth like the pent-up lava from its own Vesuvius, and Garibaldi was its conductor. Separate States, renouncing local pretensions, became greater still as parts of the great whole, and Italy stood forth a Nation, to testify against the intolerable jargon of State pretensions. All hail to this heroic revival, where dissevered parts have been brought together, as were those of the ancient Deity, and shaped anew into a form of beauty and power!

But Germany is the most instructive example. Here, from generation to generation, have State pretensions triumphed, perversely postponing that National Unity which is the longing of the German heart. Stretching from the Baltic to the Adriatic and the Alps, penetrated by great rivers, possessing an harmonious expanse of territory, speaking one language, filled with the same intellectual life, and enjoying a common name, which has been historic from the days of Tacitus, Germany, like France, seems formed for unity. Martin Luther addressed one of his grand letters _An die Deutsche Nation_ (To the German Nation); and these words are always touching to Germans as the image of what they desire so much. Thus far the great longing has failed. Even the Empire, where all were gathered under one imperial head, was only a variegated patchwork of States. Feudalism, in its most extravagant pretensions, still prevails. Confederation takes the place of Nationality, and this vast country, with all its elements of unity, is only a discordant conglomerate. North and South are inharmonious, Prussia and Austria representing two opposite sections. Other divisions have been more perplexing. Not to speak of Circles, or groups, each with a diet of its own, which once existed, I mention simply the later division into thirty-nine States, differing in government and in extent, being monarchies, principalities, dukedoms, and free cities, all proportionately represented in a general council or diet, and proportionately bound to the common defence, but every one filled with State egotism. So complete was this disjunction, and such its intolerable pretensions, that internal commerce, the life-blood of the Nation, was strangled. Down to a recent day, each diminutive state had its own custom-house, where the traveller was compelled to exhibit his passport and submit to local levies. This universal obstruction slowly yielded to a Zollverein, or Customs-Union, under which these barriers were obliterated and customs were collected on the external frontiers. Here was the first triumph of Unity. Meanwhile the perpetual strife between Prussia and Austria broke out in terrible battle. Prussia has succeeded in absorbing several of the smaller states. But the darling passion of the German heart is still unsatisfied. Not in fact, but in aspiration only, is Germany one nation. Patriot Poetry takes up the voice, and, scorning the claims of individual states, principalities, and cities, scorning also the larger claims of Prussia and Austria alike, exclaims, in the spirit of a true Nationality:--

“That is the German’s fatherland Where Germans all as brothers glow; That is the land; All Germany’s thy fatherland.”

God grant that the day may soon dawn when all Germany shall be one!

* * * * *

Confessing the necessity of a true national life, we have considered what is a Nation, and how the word itself implies indestructible unity under one government with common rights of citizenship; and then we have seen how this idea has grown with the growth of civilization, slowly conquering the adverse pretensions of States, until at last even Italy became one nation, while Germany was left still struggling for the same victory. And now I come again to the question with which I began.

Are we a Nation? Surely we are not a City-State, like Athens and early Rome in antiquity, or like Florence and Frankfort in modern times; nor, whatever the extent of our territory, are we an Empire cemented by conquest, like that of later Rome, or like that of Charlemagne; nor are we a Feudal Confederation, with territory parcelled among local pretenders; nor are we a Confederation in any just sense. From the first settlement of the country down to the present time, whether in the long annals of the Colonies or since the Colonies were changed into States, there has been but one authentic voice: now breaking forth in organized effort for Union; now swelling in that majestic utterance of a united people, the Declaration of Independence; now sounding in the scarcely less majestic utterance of the same united people, the opening words of the National Constitution; and then again leaping from the hearts of patriots. All these, at different times and in various tones, testify that we are one people, under one sovereignty, vitalized and elevated by a dedication to Human Rights.

There is a distinction for a long time recognized by German writers, and denoted by the opposite terms _Staatenbund_ and _Bundesstaat_,--the former being “a league of states,” and the latter “a state formed by a league.” In the former the separate states are visibly distinct; in the latter they are lost in unity. And such is the plain condition of our republic.

Of the present thirty-seven States only thirteen were originally Colonies; three are offsets from some of these; all the rest have been founded on territory which was the common property of the people of the United States, and at their own request they have been received into the fellowship of government and citizenship. If on any ground one of the original Thirteen might renounce its obligations to the Union, it would not follow that one of the new States, occupying the common territory, could do likewise. It is little short of madness to attribute such a denationalizing prerogative to any State, whether new or old. For better or worse, we are all bound together in one indissoluble bond. The National Union is a knot which in an evil hour the sword may cut, but which no mortal power can unloose without the common consent.

* * * * *

From the earliest landing, this knot has been tying tighter and tighter. Two ways it promptly showed itself: first, in the common claim of the rights of British subjects; and, secondly, in the common rights of citizenship coextensive with the Colonies, and the consequent rights of every Colony in every other Colony.

The Colonies were settled separately, under different names, and each had its own local government. But no local government in any Colony was allowed to restrict the rights, liberties, and immunities of British subjects. This was often declared. Above all charters or local laws were the imprescriptible safeguards of Magna Charta, which were common to all the inhabitants. On one occasion, the Legislature of Massachusetts reminded the king’s governor of these safeguards in memorable words: “We hope we may without offence put your Excellency in mind of that most grievous sentence of excommunication solemnly denounced by the Church in the name of the sacred Trinity, in the presence of King Henry the Third and the estates of the realm, _against all those who should make statutes, or observe them, being made, contrary to the liberties of Magna Charta_.”[10] Massachusetts spoke for all the Colonies. Enjoyment of common rights was a common bond, constituting an element of nationality. As these rights grew more important, the common bond grew stronger.

The rights of citizenship in the Colonies were derived from common relations to the mother country. No Colonist could be an alien in any other Colony. As British subject he had the freedom of every Colony, with the right of making his home there, and of inheriting lands. Among all the Colonies there was a common and interchangeable citizenship, or _inter-citizenship_. The very rule of the Constitution then began, that “the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.” Here was another element of nationality. If not at that time fellow-citizens, all were at least fellow-subjects. Fellowship had begun. Thus in the earliest days, even before Independence, were the Colonists one people, with one sovereignty, afterwards renounced.

* * * * *

Efforts for a common government on this side of the ocean soon showed themselves. The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620. As early as 1643, only twenty-three years later, there was a confederation under the name of “The United Colonies of New England,” formed primarily for the common defence; and here is the first stage of nationality on this continent. In the preamble to the Articles the parties declare: “We, therefore, do conceive it our bounden duty without delay to enter into a present consociation amongst ourselves for mutual help and strength in all our future concernments, that, as in nation and religion, so in other respects, _we be and continue One_.”[11] Better words could not mark the beginning of a nation. A distinguished character of the time, recording the difficulties encountered by the Articles, says: “But, being all desirous of union and studious of peace, they readily yielded each to other in such things as tended to common utility, etc., so as in some two or three meetings _they lovingly accorded_.”[12] Encouraged by “loving accord,” another proposition was brought forward in Massachusetts, “for all the English within the United Colonies _to enter into a civil agreement for the maintenance of religion and our civil liberties_.”[13] More than a century elapsed before this aspiration was fulfilled.

Meanwhile the Colonies grew in population and power. No longer merely scattered settlements, they began to act a part in history. Anxious especially against French domination, already existing in Canada and extending along the Lakes to the Mississippi, they came together in Congress at Albany, in 1754, to take measures for the common defence. Delegates were present from seven Colonies, being all north of the Potomac. Here the genius of Benjamin Franklin prevailed. A plan from this master mind provided for what was called a “General Government,” administered by a “President-General and Grand Council,” where each Colony should have representatives in proportion to its contributions,--Massachusetts and Virginia having seven each, while New York had only four; and the first meeting of the “General Government” was to be at Philadelphia.[14] Local jealousy and pretension were then too strong for such a Union: and it found no greater favor in England; for there Union was “dreaded as the keystone of Independence.”[15] In defending this plan, Franklin, who had not yet entered into the idea of Independence, did not hesitate to say that he looked upon the Colonies “as so many counties gained to Great Britain,”[16]--employing an illustration which most forcibly suggested actual Unity. Though this experiment failed, it revealed the longing for one Cisatlantic government, and showed how under other auspices it might be accomplished.

Little more than ten years elapsed before the same yearning for common life appeared again in the Colonial Congress at New York, convened in 1765, on the recommendation of Massachusetts, to arrest the tyranny of the Stamp Act and assaults upon the common liberties. Nine Colonies, after deliberation, united in a Declaration of Rights common to all. Here was the inspiration of James Otis, the youthful orator of Freedom, whose tongue of flame had already flashed the cry, “Taxation without representation is tyranny,” and that other cry, worthy of perpetual memory, “Equality and the power of the whole, without distinction of color.” These were voices that heralded our Nation.

* * * * *

The mother country persisted; and in the same proportion the Colonies were aroused to the necessity of union. Meanwhile that inflexible Republican, Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts, brooding on the perils to Liberty, conceived the idea of what he called “a Congress of American States,” out of whose deliberations should come what he boldly proclaimed “an American Commonwealth,”[17]--not several commonwealths, not Thirteen, but One. Here, in a single brilliant flash, was revealed the image of National Unity, while the word “Commonwealth” denoted the common weal which all should share. The declared object of this burning patriot was “to answer the great purpose of preserving our liberties,”[18]--meaning, of course, the liberties of all. Better words could not be chosen to describe a republican government. This was in 1773. Every Colony, catching the echo, stirred with national life. Delegates were appointed, and in 1774 a Congress called “Continental,” with a representation from twelve Colonies, was organized at Philadelphia, and undertook to speak in the name of “the good people” of the Colonies. Here was a national act. In the Declaration of Rights which it put forth,--fit precursor of the Declaration of Independence,--it grandly claims, that, by the immutable laws of Nature, the principles of the English Constitution, and the several Charters, all the inhabitants are “entitled to life, liberty, and property,” and then announces “that the foundation of English liberty and of all free government is _a right in the people to participate in their legislative council_.”[19] Here was a claim of popular rights as a first principle of government. Proceeding from a Congress of all, such a claim marks yet another stage of national life.

The next year witnessed a second Continental Congress, also at Philadelphia, which entered upon a mightier career. Proceeding at once to exercise national powers, this great Congress undertook to put the Colonies in a state of defence, authorized the raising of troops, framed rules for the government of the army, commenced the equipment of armed vessels, and commissioned George Washington as “general and commander-in-chief of the army of the United Colonies, and of all the forces now raised or to be raised by them, and of all others who shall voluntarily offer their service and join the said army, for the defence of American liberty.” Here were national acts, which history cannot forget, and their object was nothing less than American liberty. It was American liberty which Washington was commissioned to defend. Under these inspirations was our Nation born. The time had now come.

* * * * *

Independence was declared. Here was an act which, from beginning to end, in every particular and all its inspirations, was National, stamping upon the whole people Unity in the support of Human Rights. It was done “in the name and by authority of the good people of these Colonies,” called at the beginning “one people,” and it was entitled “Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,” without a word of separate sovereignty. As a National act it has two distinct features: first, a severance of the relations between the “United Colonies” and the mother country; and, secondly, a declaration of self-evident truths on which the severance was justified and the new Nation founded. It is the “United Colonies” that are declared free and independent States; and this act is justified by the sublime declaration that all men are created equal, with certain inalienable rights, and that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Here was that “American Commonwealth,” the image of National Unity, dedicated to Human Rights, which had enchanted the vision of the early patriot seeking new safeguards for Liberty. Here was a new Nation, with new promises and covenants, never before made. The constituent authority was “the People.” The rights it promised and covenanted were the Equal Rights of All; not the rights of Englishmen, but the rights of Man. On this account our Declaration has its great meaning in history; on this account our nation became at once a source of light to the world. Well might the sun have stood still on that day to witness a kindred luminary ascending into the sky!