Clinton Celebrates Nation's Centennial 1876
From: The Daily Herald, Wednesday Evening, July 5, 1876, P.4
Transcribed by a Clinton County IaGenWeb volunteer.
A JOLLY TIME.
A Trite though Inelegant Phrase which Expresses the Character of the Centennial
Fourth of July Celebration in Clinton – Details of the Day – The Parade,
Addresses, Baseball, Fireworks, Etc.
THE AUSPICES.
The celebration is over. The community, arrayed erstwhile in patriotic garb, and
teeming with the vivacity of ten thousand pleasure seekers, to-day resumes its
wonted humor and grasps again the burdens of ordinary life, with only happy
memories, let us hope, of the great and honored occasion just completed. Cities
are but types of individuals in this respect and in the expression of
characteristics, inanimate structures marking the boundaries of our
thoroughfares are made to reflect the prevailing public sentiment. The funeral
cortege, passing down the street, dispels the air of gayety and makes the very
buildings wear a fancied somber appearance, while the pleasure pageant, clad in
holiday attire and glittering in civic splendor, is beckoned onward by trees
that dance a merry greeting and edifices smiling in glad response. Thus Clinton,
standing above the sordid conditions of commercial existence for the time, gave
ample evidence throughout the day that the Fourth of July, A. D. 1876, had been
greeted here with fitting enthusiasm.
Anticipations of the celebration were somewhat marred by the incessant rain that
fell during the previous night, and weak-kneed prophets, tossing about on
sleepless beds, mentally scored a grand disappointment for the public on the
morrow. But the drenching so far from being fatal to the celebration, proved
only a healthful bath. It refreshed and purified the atmosphere while it did not
hinder the parade.
THE DAY WAS USHERED IN.
By the usual noisy outbursts, the cannon booming, the bells clanging and
whistles screaming, promulgating the glad news that the summit of the century
hill of independence had been reached, and summoning all to arouse and properly
enter into the spirit of the occasion. The rain had ceased by daylight, and the
morning dawned clear and bright, reviving the hopes of all and betokening a
successful issue of the contemplated events. The morning hours were ones of
bustle and preparation. Society men hurried hither and thither, bearing their
Lodge room paraphernalia, committee men rushed along to finish some late-hour
task, money makers hustled about intent on improving the bonanza opportunities
of eh hour, while boys, girls, men women surged around – everybody bent on
seeing the fun and “putting in the day” to the best advantage. Nearly fifty
large flags floated above the business blocks or from flag staffs in various
parts of the city, while thousands of little flags, bunting, streamers,
Centennial mottoes and other emblems were flung to the breeze.
DIVINE SERVICES
Formed on Fifth avenue and Second street according to the programme, and despite
the fact that fully two thousand spectators were gathered along the adjacent
walks and in the streets to watch the process of formation, not an accident or
incident occurred to mar the harmony, and the procession was arranged and moved
off at the appointed hour, 10:30 o’clock, with decided éclat, Marshal Milo
Smith, and his aids proving themselves very efficient Generals.
Leading the procession were the pioneers, consisting of a carriage containing
Messrs. C. H. Toll, Samuel Crozer, A. P. Hosford and T. J. Flournoy. The Clinton
band neatly uniformed, came next, followed by Holy Cross Commandery in full
dress, their handsome black uniforms and glittering swords presenting a fine
appearance. About forty Sir Knights were in line.
Then came the speaker’s carriage, containing President S. G. Magill, Rev. Mr.
Bray and Messrs. W. M. Potter and L. P. Allen, then a dozen carriages filled
with old settlers.
The Roman Catholic Total Abstinence and Juvenile Catholic Temperance societies,
numbering about eighty, marched next, Martin Grimes being the Marshal, assisted
by Messrs. Williams, Conlin, Gleason and Chapman.
The above comprised the First Division, which was in the immediate charge of
Capt. J. D. Fegan. The Second, or Capt. J. G. Crozer’s Division, was led by the
colored band, followed by Lincoln and Walhalla Lodges of Odd Fellows and their
visitors, numbering about seventy-five – John Hogendobler officiating as
Marshal. Clinton and Schiller Lodges of Ancient Order of United Workmen came
next, numbering sixty, in charge of C. S. Raymond and Albert Huessler. Then
followed the German Turnverein, numbering forty in command of Henry Kirkman; the
German Workingmen’s Association, numbering fifty, in charge of Fred. Lindloff,
and the Danish Benevolent Society distinguished by uniform straw hats, bound
with red ribbon, numbering sixty, John Ivers Marshal. This completed the Second
Division.
The Third Division, in command of Capt. P. S. Bannister, brought up the rear,
and though last, was by no means least in character or significance. This
Division was headed by Thomas’ Martial Band, followed by the Clinton Fire
Department, the latter making a very creditable appearance. About one hundred
fireman were in line comprising North Star Hose Co. No. 1, James Tompkins
Foreman and Jas. Dana assistant; Neptune Hose Co. No. 2, A. F. Smith Assistant
Foreman and Acting Foreman; Eagle Hose Co., No. 4, John Pollard Foreman and John
Delaney assistant. All the hose carriages were tastefully ornamented with
flowers and evergreen, and the Eagle carriage bore in front the fine live eagle
presented to the company by Capt. Bennett.
Next came the Butchers Association, numbering twenty-five, mounted and decked in
neat white aprons and colored sashes , led by a phaeton in which were seated the
jovial forms of S. W. Tindall and Chas. Pipping, the “boss” butchers, in point
of avoirdupois at least. This squadron was captained by John Wagner and J.
Eislem.
A band of masqueraders on horseback, in command of Mr. Mark McGlann, followed
the butchers and afforded much sport by their grotesque costumes.
THE TRADE DISPLAY
Came next in line, and exceeded in effect the most sanguine anticipations of the
public.
The first representation was that of John Alfred & Co.’s Union Boiler Works, and
beneath a green wreathed canopy, as the wagon moved along, half a dozen workmen
were busy riveting a bona fide steam drum, the deafening noise of their
hammering resounding for blocks away.
R. Connor’s marble works was represented by some pretty slabs and a monument.
The wagon following bore up another unfinished boiler on which another squad of
workmen were laboring with red-hot rivets and heavy sledges in the interest of
Owen & Co.’s Eagle Boiler Works.
The Oriental Mill was represented by a graceful pyramid of flour in sacks.
The generously-filled delivery wagon o Leslie & Dunham followed, with a fine
display of groceries and dry goods.
Young & Armstrong’s hardware wagon was replete with patriotic decorating.
C. O. Peck’s musical establishment was artfully represented by a pretty doll
playing a miniature piano, and a large Estey organ.
Bather Brothers showed a fine display of flowers, plants and evergreens.
J. L. McClure exhibited an improved kitchen range that made every housewife’s
eyes sparkle with admiration.
Among the “knobbiest” of all the outfits was that of Mrs. J. Harding’s millinery
establishment. This consisted of a show case, well filled and surmounted by a
mammoth straw bonnet, nicely trimmed for the occasion. This bonnet was sent from
Chicago with the compliments of D. B. Fisk & Co., and measured six feet in
length by nearly four feet in height.
Next came a confectionery wagon, in which Mr. Clark was busily engaged in making
candy.
Liberal attention was bestowed on the next turnout, driven by Andy Dennison and
representing A. L. Ankeny’s boot and shoe house. Mr. Dennison’s buggy was
composed of an immense shoe of improved pattern and neatly blacked, in which he
rode with all the grace that once characterized the immortal old lady who abided
in a novel leather house and had so large a retinue of juveniles that she was
clearly beside herself – according to Mother Goose.
Hoffman & Hanson’s vinegar works were advertised by a load of red, white and
blue barrels filled with the palatable acetous liquor.
Francis Lee’s drug store, thanks to the enterprise of Mr. Van Baxter and the
other clerks, was represented by a pair of handsome show cases, exposed on
either side of a light wagon and profusely ornamented.
E. M. Howes’ jewelry store was represented by a load of watches, clocks,
silverware, etc., the wheels of the buggy being shown as four great revolving
watches. This display was one of the best in the parade.
The American Express Company turned out a thrifty load of packages, including
one addressed to “Boss Tweed, Somewhere,” containing $6,000,000 and marked “C.
O. D.”
The Clinton Lumber Company showed a gang of men piling pieces of lumber on a
wide wagon track in true lumber man’s style.
The Union Iron Works was represented by a smiling darkey riding in a brush
covered vehicle and advertising the patent “nigger” engine made by this firm,
S. G. Magill exhibited a miniature warehouse on wheels.
The procession wound up with a number of citizens in carriages and a large
attendant crowd on foot. It was fully half a mile long and was twenty minutes
passing a given point.
THE LINE OF MARCH.
Was taken east on Fifth avenue to First street, north to Fourth avenue, west to
Third street, south to Tenth avenue, east to Second street, north to Fifth
avenue and thence east to the Water Works park, where fully 2,000 people had
congregated in and a Centennial Chartbout the comfortable and commodious amphitheater to witness
the exercises there. The parade then ended and at twelve o’clock the exercises
commenced.
AT THE GRAND STAND.
President S. G. Magill made a brief welcoming speech, in which, with well chosen
sentences and in his characteristically fine voice, he alluded to the occasion
that had brought this people together and the circumstances of the signing of
the Declaration one hundred years ago, closing with a patriotic peroration.
Rev. Mr. Bray then made an appropriate invocation, which was followed by the
singing of an Italian hymn by the Centennial choir, composed of Messrs.
Carpenter, Flint, Nash, Doerring, Stebbins, Lachmund and Brayton, accompanied by
Prof. Jones at the organ, H. J. Rumble with cornet, Geo. Rumble with flute and
Fred Taylor with bass viol.
L.P. Allen then read the Declaration of Independence, and the choir sang again,
after which Hon. J. J. Flournoy delivered his excellent historical sketch, which
we publish in full elsewhere.
Mr. Flint then sang “Red, White and Blue,” which chorus by the choir and
assembly, after which Hon. W. M. Potter delivered the oration, which is also
published in full in this issue.
Mr. Carpenter sang “A Thousand Years,” and Prof. Jones sang “The Star Spangled
Banner,” the choir and people joining in the choruses with grand effect, and
with a resolution asking the orator and historian to furnish their addresses for
publication and rounds of cheers for the day, and the audience dispersed.
BASE BALL.
A very interesting game of base ball was played in the afternoon at Clinton
Park, between the Clippers, of Fulton, and the Actives, of Clinton, the latter
winning by a score of 25 to 0. The park showed a large number of spectators,
amounting to thousands of persons, from Clinton, Fulton, Lyons and other
localities.
FIREWORKS.
In the evening there must have been several thousand people gathered on the
levee to witness the grand display of fireworks, which successfully completed
the very eventful day. The fireworks were very fine, and embraced several very
attractive exhibition pieces. A storm came up about ten o’clock and cut short
the display somewhat, the people hurrying home to escape the shower. A few were
caught by the rain.
INCIDENTS.
Barring the unfortunate accident to Mr. Baker, in the morning, which was not
incidental to the celebration, the day was remarkably free from mishaps.
Everything passed off satisfactorily and everybody was pleased.
A spark of fire, carelessly thrown into a box of fireworks in front of Webb’s
restaurant in the afternoon caused a series of explosions that broke several
panes of glass and caused some excitement but no great damage.
After the parade the Odd Fellows retired to their hall and listened to
appropriate remarks by Mr. Thos. Kington, of Lyons.
A fine evergreen arch with a handsome motto spanned Fourth street at Barton’s
market.
The Gerhard House was illuminated in the evening.
Over 500 men and boys marched in the parade.
The Presbyterian and Baptist refreshment booths near the Water Works Park were
well patronized.
A woman was thrown out of a wagon opposite the HERALD office in the afternoon,
by furious driving across the railroad track. She was insensible for a few
moments, but on the application of restoratives revived and did not seem to be
materially injured.
The employees of Curtis Bros. & Co.’s factory procured a fine 26 foot flag with
50 foot streamer, which they elevated on a forty foot staff on top of the
factory yesterday to the surprise of their employers.
The Fourth panned out a few fights and about ten arrests for drunkenness, the
prisoners being given lodgings in the calaboose over night and sent off with
light fines all around.
The Lyons Mirror, July 8, 1876, P. 6
The Centennial Fourth.
Very quietly our city passed the Fourth of July. Many of our citizens went
elsewhere for a part or a whole of the day; numbers from outside were in town
off and on, but in the absence of any formal doings their stay with us usually
was brief.
In the morning a salute was fired, and in the evening had been partly delivered
when the cannon burst.
The Floral Fair in the interest of the Young Men’s Association drew many
visitors day and evening; the German Fair play and dance were extraordinarily
well patronized; and the Irish Temperance Society’s ball was crowded; the Lyons
City Band held a pic-nic on the Schutzen Verein grounds, winding up with a dance
at night, which was well attended.
At Clinton, the programme was carried out in very fine style. The procession was
a very large and attractive one, the city government, civic societies, firemen,
manufactures and tradesmen, etc., taking part – the latter parties having worthy
representatives of their business on wheels. The oration and history, by Messrs.
Potter, and Flournoy, were worthy of the occasion, the city, and their authors;
while the reading of Mr. Allen, the music, and all the other attractions of the
day, received high encomiums on all hands. In the afternoon the game of base
ball proved one of the chief attractions of the day; and in the evening fire
works, Marble’s theater, balls and parties closed the celebration.
In Camanche, De Witt, Wheatland, Charlotte, Delmar, Smithtown and Center Grove,
of course they had a full time, and good times – with orations, histories,
readings, music games, &c.
At Hanntown, a neighbor there informs us, a goodly little company met, and
enjoyed themselves and the Fourth to good advantage.
Very fortunately, no serious accidents attributable to the celebration are
reported in this vicinity; and upon the whole, the Centennial Fourth may be said
to have passed most satisfactorily with the great majority in Clinton county and
adjoining territory, as we presume it was throughout the land.
The Daily Herald, Wednesday Evening, July 5, 1876, P.1
HISTORY OF CLINTON.
Address of John J. Flournoy, Esq., Delivered at the Citizens’ Centennial
Celebration in Clinton July 4th, 1876.
Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens:
I sincerely wish for your better entertainment, that the part assigned to me on
this occasion had been committed to abler hands. The history of our city is
replete with interesting and instructive incidents, and during my search for
matter for the compilation of this short sketch I was impressed with my own
unfitness, and the error of the committee in not assigning the task to some one
more capable of its creditable performance. In chronicling the history of
Clinton and the progressive stages of its development, I am merely recording the
result of your own enterprise.
This sketch is necessarily a short one; for, if I should attempt to enter into
detail, we would have a late meeting. Besides I know the orator of the day will
entertain you better than I can, and in preceding him I very much resemble
(except in the small matters of piety and inspiration) that other John who was
the forerunner of one whose shoes he was unworthy to unloose.
EARLY HISTORY.
The advantages presented by this location for the site of a thriving town were
recognized at a very early day in the settlement of the West. As long ago as
when Iowa was known as the “Black Hawk Purchase,” and formed a part of the
territory of Wisconsin, one J. M. Bartlett established a squatter claim to the
land now forming the main part of Clinton, and laid out a town which he called
New York. In the spring of 1838, Bartlett sold his claim to C. G. Pearce, of
Cincinnati and B. Randall, of Baltimore. Pearce subsequently bought out his
associates, and the Government granted him a patent for the land in February,
1848. Well, “New York” reverted to the plow, and for many long years before the
project of a town was revived, yielded abundant crops of golden grain under the
skillful tillage of Mr. Pearce.
IOWA LAND COMPANY.
On the 4th of July, 1855, 21 years ago, the Iowa Land Company made its first
purchase of about 600 acres of land. Among other advantages which this site
presented and which induced the above purchase, was the fact that the
Mississippi river offered facilities for bridging at this point, in consequence
of the adaptation of the channel, the security of the shores and the presence of
Little Rock Island, that mad it superior as a sight for bridging to any other
point on the river below St. Anthony’s Falls. These facts seemed to point out
the land purchased by the Iowa Land Company as designed and prepared by the hand
of nature for the site of the great crossing of the Mississippi river, by the
air line route of travel and commerce from Chicago and the East, seeking Iowa,
Nebraska, the valley of the Platte, Colorado, Utah and the States of the Pacific
coast. To the wise forethought on which these sanguine anticipations were
founded, the present magnificent railroad bridge, the city of Clinton with its
population of 12,000 souls, and a line of railroad extending westward to the
Pacific Ocean, bear ample testimony.
On the 1st of August, 1855, the standing corn was cut from the field and
“Clinton” commenced by the laying, with appropriate ceremonies, of the corner
stone of a church and schoolhouse and a large hotel. For a time everything went
merry as a marriage bell. The town pulse beat high and strong. Town lots were
sold rapidly and resold again and again. Then came depressing rumors and rumors
were followed by serious troubles.
RAILROADS.
Up to this time the hopes of the forefathers of the hamlet were founded upon the
Mississippi an d Iowa Central road which, starting at Clinton, ran northwesterly
to intersect the old line of the Lyons and Iowa Central road, which had a short
time before yielded up the ghost like many other projects of vast scope and
promise, but little capital. When this project had run the length of its rope,
the attention of some Eastern gentlemen of character, capital, enterprise and
experience was attracted to it and a thorough investigation was made into its
merits. This investigation established the advantages of Clinton as the eastern
terminus of a railroad to connect with and be an extension, virtually, of the
Chicago and Dixon air line. These conclusions led to the total rejection of all
the old projects and the formation on the 26th of January 1858 of a new Railroad
Co. which in view of its future field of operations was christened by the
comprehensive title of “Chicago Iowa and Nebraska Railroad.” From this time,
Clinton may be considered as established on a firm foundation. The C. I. & N. R.
R. pledged its faith that this point should forever be maintained as the eastern
termination of the road, and nobly redeemed its pledge, not withstanding
temptations and allurements to violate them, sufficient to have won the souls of
any but the most steadfast, were frequently offered,. None who resided at
Clinton at the time will forget the dark days which followed the passage of the
Land Grand Act. Nor will they fail remember with gratitude the noble
determination of the Directors of the C. I. & N. R. R. to proceed with their
road at the hazard of their fortunes rather than abandon those who had trusted
to them assurances and made Clinton their home.
The following residents of Clinton at the time were members of the 1st Board of
Directors: A. Chandler, H. P. Adams, I. P. Reynor, G. H. Parker, T. W. Arnold,
John C. Bucher, W. C. Brown, Jno. Butterfield and J. L. Pearce. Chas Walker was
chosen President, Jas. Purdy Vice President, T. T. Davis Treasurer, R. H. Nalton
Secretary. Milo Smith, Esq., was at the same time appointed Chief Engineer,
which position he most ably filled until June, 1861. The road was finished to
Cedar Rapids, a distance of 82 miles, in June 1859 and on the 3rd of July 1862,
was leased to the Galena and Chicago Union R. R. which company changed its name
and is now known as the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. Under the supervision
of Cedar Rapids & Missouri River Railroad Company the road was finished through
to Council Bluffs, which city was reached in January, 1867. The railroad
buildings are built upon the land originally donated for the purpose by the Iowa
Land Co. Within the last few years great improvements have been made in these
grounds, and the resident of ten years ago, on seeing them for the first time
since would hardly recognize them. The buildings are machine shop, boiler shop,
blacksmith shop, paint shop, freight depot, passenger depot and round house. The
investment of the company in buildings amounts to $100,000 and 175 men are
constantly employed in them.
MANUFACTORIES.
Chief among the manufactories of Clinton are the saw mills. The history of the
rise and progress of this branch of manufacturing industry in this city is
interesting. I am sorry that time will not allow me to enter into details upon
it. Early in 1857 Chancy Lamb, Esq., superintended the building of eh first saw
mill erected here. Soon after it was in running order Mr. Lamb became sole owner
and when he had got fairly at work the mill was burned to the ground. This was
October 6th, 1857. But to a man of Mr. Lamb’s energy, enterprise and ingenuity
such a misfortune only served to develop his resources. He at once began to
erect a larger and more substantial structure and today the firm of Lamb & Sons
are proprietors in connection with their partners of four mills, the value of
which is $350,000 and they employ in their various departments 375 men.
In 1858 Mr. W. J. Young, Esq., established his lumber yard here, having been
sent for that purpose by the Ohio Mill Co., then doing business near La Crosse,
Wis. He afterwards induced the owners to remove the mill from Wisconsin to this
city. His first mill was commenced on the 1st day of May, 1860. He today, with
his partners, is proprietor of two mills, the value of which with the real
estate upon which the structures and lumber are located, is $1,000,000. He
employs in both concerns about 450 men and distributes among them annually about
$160,000.
The Clinton Lumber Company was organized in 1869 and the mill structure built by
Hosford & Miller in 1859 was purchased. They also have two mills, the value of
which is $160,000 and employ 160 men, to whom they pay annually about $72,000.
The Union Works were completed in the spring of 1869, erected by a joint stock
company formed in this city on the 3rd day of September 1868. Its present
proprietor is A. P. Hosford, Esq., who values it at $50,000. Forty men are
constantly employed in its service and the yearly pay roll is about $24,000.
Among the leading manufacturing establishments of the city mention must not be
omitted of the extensive sash, door and planing manufactory of Messrs. Curtis
Bros. & Co. this firm took possession of their establishment on the 1st of
January, 1869. They at once introduced all the modern improvements in machinery.
Their work is acknowledged of superior quality, and orders are flowing in upon
them far beyond their most sanguine expectations. Their investment at the
present time is valued at $100,000. They employ 125 men.
A similar manufactory is owned and operated by Pierson & Haradon in North
Clinton, their investment being about $18,000 in real estate, buildings and
machinery and they have in their employ about 25 men.
During the year 1868 the Clinton Paper Co. was organized in this city with A. P.
Hosford Esq., at its head. The present paid up capital of the company is
$50,000, there are 35 men employed by it and its value is $75,000.
HORSE RAILROAD AND GAS WORKS.
In the month of August 1869, two joint stock companies were organized – one for
the purpose of conducting a horse railway between this city and Lyons and the
other to build gas works, street pipes, etc., in the city of Clinton. The gas
works are now in successful operation, thanks to its public spirited managers
and stockholders. The investment of the company is now about $70,000.
WATER WORKS.
On the 14th day of March, 1874, the Clinton Water Works Company was organized
and on the 26th of the same month the city council passed an ordinance granting
a franchise to the Company for 20 years. The works were completed during the
same year and are now in admirable running order, the present value being
$170,000.
BOILER WORKS.
Of boiler works there are two in successful operation – that of Mr. Jho. Alfred,
established January 1, 1875, whose investment is about $10,000, and the one of
E. Owen & Co., which went into operation about one year ago, the investment
there being about $7,000.
RECAPITULATION.
The figures given above show the investments only in the largest and most
important of the manufacturing establishments of our city, and make in the
aggregate a tolerably fair showing for a young western town. At present there
are in the city of dry good stores, 11; clothing stores, 7; groceries and
provisions, 21; restaurants and confectionaries, 10; bakeries, 8; hotels, 9;
hardware, 6; barber shops, 10; wagon and blacksmith, 8; jewelers, 6; booksellers
and stationery, 3; agricultural implements, 3; marble works, 2; daguerreans, 4;
hoop skirt factory, 1; druggist, 6; boots and shoes, 6; millinery and
dressmaking, 14; real estate agents, 5; newspapers, 3; lawyers, 18 (or more than
can get a living); National bank, 1; private banks, 3; savings institutions, 2;
forwarding and commission, 2; churches, 10; public schools, 5; saloons, only 40.
But the last item was furnished by a friend of mine, who has canvassed the city.
ASSOCIATIONS.
It would be strange indeed if a population as intelligent and enterprising as
ours should remain long without the advantages of literary improvement and
amusement. In 1866, the efforts which had been made to secure these advantages
to the public were deemed inadequate and a number of citizens took eh matter in
hand and organized the “Young Men’s Association.” That institution is now in
flourishing condition with a well selected library of several hundred volumes.
SECRET SOCIETIES
The ancient and honorable fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons seems to have
found its lines cast in pleasant places in Clinton. It is represented by two
flourishing Lodges of about 200 members, one Chapter of about 60 members, one
Commandery consisting of 70 Sir Knights. And if Mr. Blanchard or some one of his
anti-Masonic disciples cannot discover which one of us killed Morgan or struck
“Billy Patterson,” we expect an accession to the numbers in each body above
given. Nevertheless harmony prevails and eh order is prosperous.
Lincoln Lodge, No. 139, I. O. of O. F., was instituted May 12th, 1865 and
numbers about 75 members.
Clinton Lodge, No. 175, I. O. of G. T. was chartered May 12th, 1865 and now
comprises about 300 members, male and female.
Besides there are the tow Lodges of A. O. U. comprising about 150 members; the
R. C. T. A. Society of 150 members; the A. O. Hibernians, numbering 200, German
lodges of Odd Fellows and A. O. U. W., and our gallant Fire Department.
This, my fellow citizens, ends the short sketch I have prepared for this
occasion. Incomplete as it is, it certainly makes a showing of which every
citizen may justly feel proud. To those of us who have lived here long, the
growth and progress of our city seems more like the work of enchantment than a
reality, and if, before the vision of these millions of American citizens who
are assembled today to celebrate the 100th anniversary of our National
Independence, could pass in review the young cities of eh West, our own
“Clinton” would bear no humble part in the gorgeous pageant.
This is but the outgrowth and a proof of the benign influence of our free
institutions. At this moment there is no object upon earth so much attracting
the gaze of the intelligent and civilized nations as this great Republic. All
men look at us, all men examine our courage, all good men are anxious for a
favorable result to this great experiment of republican liberty. We are on a
hill and cannot be hid. We cannot withdraw ourselves either from the
commendations or the reproaches of the world. They see us, as that “Star of
Empire” which a century ago was represented as taking its way westward and they
see it today – thank God – a mild placid brilliant orb moving athwart the
heavens to the enlightenment and cheering of mankind.
The Daily Herald, Wednesday Evening, July 5, 1876, P.2
The Centennial of Independence.
ORATION.
Delivered by Waldo M. Potter, at Clinton, Iowa, July 4th, 1876.
Ladies and Gentlemen – Fellow Citizens:
There are occasions in every life, and in the life of every nation, which appeal
strongly to all that is sensitive and noble in the human heart. Such are the
anniversaries which shed their effulgence over the domestic circle, and such is
this anniversary which lifts a great nation to the sublimest heights of
patriotic feeling, and prompts to outward manifestations of abounding pride and
joy. What a spectacle does America present to-day! Forty millions of people,
resting from their usual avocations, and swayed by a common impulse, unite in
honoring the men and the deeds of a hundred years ago. What exultation fills the
breasts of the thronging thousands in all the vast convocations assembled to
listen to the story of ’76! Imagine the scene now transpiring at Philadelphia,
where the nation was born, where the Declaration was signed, and where those
daring political navigators of the past cut adrift from the old Ship of State,
and resolutely pushed their little republican bark out on the stormy sea of
Revolution. There the full force and significance of the event is being
realized. There are the sacred relics of the past – the old Hall of
Independence, the house where Jefferson penned his immortal scroll, the original
charter of freedom itself – all the accumulated store of Continental times; -
and there is the great Exposition, which tells of Centennial achievement, and
reveals by contrast with what the Old World has done, the triumphs of the New –
giving grander proportions to all that the occasion affords of incident and
association. But not only there, but every where the tale is rehearsed to
willing ears and sympathetic hearts – everywhere and from every breast, comes
the exulting thought, “this is our country; it was for us the Fathers
encountered the perils of Revolution; it was our nation which they ushered into
being; this is the Centennial of our Republic. All the wealth of this priceless
inheritance, all the glory of this grand national epoch – all that makes our
Union precious in the eyes of men, or an object of envy to the world – all, all
is ours!”
The events which give significance to this day will forever rank among the most
momentous in human annals. For five generations the American colonists had been
struggling with formidable obstacles to make themselves a home in the new world.
Their presence here was an element of British power. This fact provoked the
hostility of rival nations, and exposed them to the hardships and sacrifices of
border wars, in which the cunning of the savage was supplemented by the skill
and resources of European civilization. England plunged into these contests to
defend her interests and honor, and when her ambition had been gratified, sought
to replenish her treasury by drafts upon the trade and resources of the
colonies. The Navigation Act was first employed in 1761 to teach Americans that
they were simply vassals of the British crown. By “writs of assistance” American
commerce with the West Indies was annihilated, and curses loud and deep followed
this needless assault by an unnatural mother upon the prosperity of her
children. Then came the Stamp Act of 1765, inaugurating the policy of direct
taxation for the benefit of the English exchequer. It was met by an outburst of
popular indignation, to which the youthful Patrick Henry gave voice in words
which will ring down the ages as the grandest specimen of audacious eloquence:
“Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third may
profit by their example!” Riots occurred everywhere, and the British Ministry,
warned that they had gone too far, withdrew the hated stamps, and repealed the
obnoxious law.
But the scheme was only postponed, not abandoned. The Ministry saw that they
must then insist on the right to tax without representation, or surrender it
forever. In ’67 another law was passed levying duties on glass, paper, tea &c.,
and 700 British regulars were deemed necessary to render it palatable to the
/Bostonians. But the menace of force only stimulated hostility to the tyrannical
course of the crown. Boston, catching the fiery spirit of Adams, became a hot
bed of insurrection which culminated in violent controversies concerning the
royal troops, and brought on the “Boston massacre” of 1770. So dangerous did the
spirit of sedition become that in ’73 all the duties were repealed except 3d. a
pound on tea. On this the British government determined to stand. The principle
was to be maintained, and the principle was precisely what the fathers were
equally resolved to resist. “No taxation without representation” was then, and
continued to be, the key-note of the whole controversy with England.
The position taken by the government was well calculated to test the patriotic
and self-denying spirit of the people. There remained but one grievance, the
paltry tax of three pence a pound on tea; and it must be borne in mind that not
the old women only, but also the men of that period, doated on their fragrant
cups of Bohea. More than this, so much had the tax been reduced that they could
be afforded in America at 9d a pound cheaper than in England. Would the favorite
beverage be given u, and a controversy be continued which paralyzed trade and
threatened war, rather than pay that little tax of three-pence a pound on tea?
The answer given was worthy the men and women of that eventful period. They
resolved not to pay the tax; still more, not to use the tea; further than this,
that no tea should be sold, and that the royal consignees of the article must
throw up their commissions. In several ports ships loaded with the Chinese leaf
were hurried out to sea to escape the popular fury; and in Boston – which never
did anything by halves – an Indian masquerade, using the harbor for a tea pot,
consumed 242 tea chests in a single evening; and though there was little
gossiping by the participants, there is no disputing that it was the most
scandalous tea party ever know!
So, at least, thought King George’s government. Lord North was furious over the
contumacious spirit of the Americans, and forthwith devised measures for their
punishment. Bills were prepared, and promptly passed by Parliament; 1st. Closing
Boston as a port, and transferring its commercial privileges to Salem; 2nd.
Abrogating chartered rights, and giving to the royal governors the poser of
making civil appointments; 3rd. Providing that crimes against the magistracy be
triable in England. 4th. Quartering royal troops – sent here as instruments of
despotism – upon the colonists. These enormous strides of power set the people
in a ferment. Steps were immediately taken to secure unity of action, which
resulted in the assembling of the First Continental Congress Sept 5, 1774. So
far, independence had not been contemplated; or at least, the idea had not found
public expression. The Congress disavowed any thought of it, but assumed a most
determined attitude in defence of chartered rights. It recommended
non-intercourse with Great Britain, until the obnoxious measures should be
repealed; advised that the names of all who violated this agreement be made
public; and denounced the slave trade as injurious to the best interests of
America. An “Address to the People of Great Britain,” from the pen of John Jay,
and a “Petition to the King”, by John Dickinson, were authorized and adopted.
These papers were such masterpieces, in style and argumentation, that Lord
Chatham pronounced them equal to the most celebrated writings of antiquity, and
declared in parliament that “all attempts to impose servitude on such men, to
establish despotism over such a mighty continental nation, must be in vain –
must be futile.” The voice of this great orator and patriot was again raised in
advocacy of repeal; but the King, and his Council, and Parliament, would listen
to no advice of that sort. Having goaded the colonies to desperation they were
determined to crush the rising spirit of revolt. Bills were promptly passed
restricting the commerce of the colonies to Great Britain, Ireland and the West
Indies – that is, forbidding them to trade with the outside world - and taking
away the right, always theretofore exercised, of participating in the fisheries
on the coast of Newfoundland. Thus at one stroke they intended to wipe out what
little was left of colonial commerce, and to deprive thousands of sea faring
people of the very means of existence.
All doors of accommodation being now closed – commerce being destroyed, and
every right dear to freemen invaded – it was evident that force only could
determine the questions at issue. Three thousand British troops were sent to
Boston. The various colonies commenced to arm. In Massachusetts, and generally
throughout New England, “minute men” were drilling under the veterans of
previous French and Indian wars. Military stores were located at convenient
points by the patriot authorities. An attempt to destroy one of these depots
brought on the first armed collisions, April 19, 1775, known in history as the
battles of Lexington and Concord, which opened the bloody drama of the seven
years’ war for independence. A month before, on the 20th of March, Patrick
Henry, with prophetic instinct, exclaimed in the Virginia Convention, “The next
breeze from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. There
is no longer room for hope – we must fight!” On the 10th of May the Congress
reassembled, pursuant to adjournment, and while resolving to repel force with
force, declared that they “had no wish to separate from the mother country, but
only to maintain their chartered rights.” This may look like policy to us, but
it was doubtless sincere – so difficult was it for those prudent men to give up
the associations in which they had been reared, and institutions to which they
were accustomed. On the morning of the very day this Congress was convening, at
early dawn, the fearless Ethan Allen, with eighty Green Mountain Boys, surprised
Fort Ticonderoga, capturing the garrison and munitions of war and two days
afterwards Crown Point fell an easy prey to patriot audacity and courage. A
month later, June 14th, George Washington – the divinely appointed Moses of the
Revolution – was made commander-in-chief of the American armies; and three days
subsequently occurred the sublimest exhibition of patriot valor in modern times
at the Battle of Bunker Hill, where untaught yeomanry, fighting for their
rights, proved themselves more than a match for the drilled mercenaries of
despotic power. Shall I recall the incidents of that bloody field – the fall of
the brave, accomplished, and noble Warren; the effort , three times repeated, of
the British regulars to reach the American entrenchments; the skill of Ward, the
lion-like courage of Putnam, and the gallantry of Stark; the hand-to –hand
conflict of combatants, cold steel against clubbed muskets; the thickly strewn
corpses, the farmer in homespun lying side by side with the invader in red coat
and gold lace; the shout of the onset, the answer of defiance, the groans of the
dying; and finally, the slow retreat of the patriot force to a neighboring
stronghold, which was held until the haughty Briton, months after, sued for the
privilege of evacuating Boston? Such was the issue of the first attempt to teach
American freemen not to dispute the authority of King and Parliament.
But I have said enough to indicate the rise and character of the conflict
between Great Britain and the American Colonies. The gage of battle which she
had thrown down had been accepted. She was seeking to crush by stifling commerce
and by enforcing taxation without representation. The colonies were contending
for inherent and chartered rights. The green soil of Bunker Hill had been
drenched with patriot blood, and there could be neither receding nor
reconciliation. A few months sufficed to make this clear to all. In January,
’76, Massachusetts instructed for independence; the two Carolinas and Georgia
imitated her example. Washington wrote, “nothing else will save us.” June 7th,
of that year, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, introduced into Congress a
resolve, “that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and
independent States.” It was adopted June 11th, and a committee of five appointed
to put the declaration in form, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams,
Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. If Lee had not been
called away by sickness at home, at that juncture, the immortal paper now
identified with the name of Jefferson might have come from a different hand, and
a new coloring have been given, possibly to many subsequent events.
But whatever the reason for placing Jefferson at the head of that committee,
there can be no question that he was the right man in the right place. The
deference paid to him by his illustrious colleagues, Franklin and Adams, proves
that, young as he was – only thirty-three years of age – his eminent fitness was
understood and acknowledged. And how grandly the work was performed! At this
day, looking back a hundred years, we recognize its soundness in principle, its
nervous strength and beauty of styles, its terrible arraignment of King and
Parliament, and the majestic attitude of the colonies in declaring their reasons
for a separation.
This matchless paper having passed the ordeal of the Committee, who made few
changes in the original draft, was reported to Congress June 28th. We know
little what passed in that body of pure and noble spirits, in secret session,
when the supreme issue was this presented. That there were some who shrank from
the great responsibility, is well known – among them, John Dickinson, of
Pennsylvania, who had done more by his writings, for ten years, to prove that
the colonies were right, and the King wrong, than almost any other man. But the
Declaration did not lack able and eloquent defenders. It embodied the will and
purpose of the people – the country was ripe for it and anxiously expecting it,
and was not destined to disappointment.
Let us look in, for a moment, upon the heroic assembly, about to take a step
that will change the destiny of the race. They are few in number – only fifty
six; but they are grave and reverend men, of noble aspect, and giants in
intellectual stature. The style of the period contributes to the natural dignity
of their demeanor. The powdered wigs, shining waistcoats, white neckerchiefs,
lace sleeves, silk stockings and bright shoebuckles, all are indicative of
gentility and refinement. But at the mention of their names how instinctively we
bow to the majesty of such a presence. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John
Adams, Robert Morris, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Rush, Edward Rutledge, Charles
Carroll, of Carrollton – all these, and many more, are “names that the world
will not willingly let die.” They represent the wealth and culture of the time;
but they are about to affix their names to a document that will write “traitor”
on their brows, work a forfeiture of their great estates, peril all the
associations of home, break up many old lifelong attachments, lead inevitable to
a long and bloody war, and possibly bring some of them to violent and
ignominious deaths. But they do not hesitate. Their souls are fired with a
patriotic purpose; they have counted the cost, and are ready to accept the
hazard of the die; the issue is Submission and Slavery, for themselves and their
children, or the Declaration and Liberty, at the cost of untold blood and
treasure. One by one they step cheerfully forward, and write their endorsement
of the great title-deed of freedom. It is an act worthy of heroes – yea, it
would become the demi gods of the old mythology. There are the names recorded
for the emancipation of a continent, inscribed on a roll of deathless fame. All
honor to the Spartan Band who stood in the American Thermopylae, launching
defiance at the foreign aggressor, on the 4th of July, 1776!
The deed performed on that day involved a test of character which only the
Anglo-American has yet proved capable of enduring. That test was the disposition
of the masses voluntarily to bear the burdens, endure the privations, and
sustain the losses, in life and treasure, incident to a long and exhausting war.
Under monarchical rule the people have no voice, and their masters may pursue
the game of war indefinitely, until all available resources are exhausted; but
the American Fathers, trampling under foot the old sentiment of allegiance to
kingly power, voluntarily sustained the Declaration, through six long and bloody
years, with their earning and their blood, until peace and independence were
achieved. Who can truthfully paint the trials and sufferings, or adequately
compliment the gallantry and heroism of that fierce struggle? Warren fell at
Bunker Hill; Montgomery at Quebec; Hale was executed as a spy; defeat often came
to blast ardent hope; hunger and nakedness were the portion of the patriot
soldier, and frequently the bloody imprint of unprotected feet was left on the
snow and frozen ground. But there were triumphs which repaid these accumulated
sorrows and sufferings; the capture of Ticonderoga; the defeat which was a
victory on Bunker Hill; the surprise at Trenton; the surrender of Burgoyne at
Saratoga; the prowess of Paul Jones, and his brother stars on the ocean; and
scores of lesser note all served to buoy up the popular heart, and to give
assurance that a decisive victory would come at last, as it did when the British
lion succumbed to the American eagle, in the capitulation of Cornwallis at
Yorktown. Nor must we forget the means and instrumentalities of this great
deliverance our obligations to France, as a faithful and generous ally to her
young, brave and gallant Lafayette, and her veteran Rochambeau to Poland’s
Kosciucko, and Germany’s Steuben and to the long line of American heroes:
Washington, Putnam, Green, Know, Lee, Gage, Morgan, Marion, and hundreds more,
to say nothing of the thousands who laid down their lives in the cause, and the
thousands more whom the fortunes of war permitted to return from the
battle-fields of liberty to cherished and often desolated homes.
Independence was now achieved – the United Colonies were recognized as a
distinct people – and upon the men who had founded the young republic devolved
the duty of providing for its preservation. It was a great undertaking. How to
devise a government with such checks and balances as would restrain lawless
ambition on the one hand, and preserve popular liberty on the other, was the
problem to be solved. Long and learned were the discussions, and great were the
embarrassments experienced from the want of an organized central government. But
gradually and surely there was evoked, in the writings of Hamilton, Madison and
others, the form of a system which subsequently took shape as the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES – the noblest civil structure ever
fashioned by human genius – and Washington – first in peace as in war, whose
voluntary relinquishment of his sword seven years before was the grandest rebuke
ever given to the ambition of conquerors – was called from his retirement to set
in motion the last best government of earth.
Here the work of the Revolutionary Fathers may be considered as accomplished.
This was the end of the long struggle to found a nation which began with
resistance to British oppression, grew into Revolution, made the Declaration
necessary, and finally achieved through red handed war, Independence and
Self-government. All this history, glorious as it is, centers in the event whose
first Centennial we this day celebrate. We owe it all to them – all we possess
as a people, all that makes America great among the nations, all that her
example has accomplished – to the Men of ’76. Those orators, statesmen,
warriors, patriots, where are they! We look around in vain for the faces of any
of those giants of the past. Washington has lain in Mount Vernon’s tomb nearly
77 years, but still we may mourn him – mourn one to whom we owe so much- in this
Centennial year. As Tennyson beautifully wrote of the Iron Duke, we may say of
the Father of his Country:
“Mourn for the man of amplest influence,
Yet clearest of ambition’s crime,
Our greatest yet with least pretence,
Great in council and great in war,
Foremost captain of his time,
Rich in saving common sense,
And, as the greatest only are,
In his simplicity sublime.”
And his compeers in the grand drama of Revolution – Franklin, Jefferson, Heary,
the Adams’, and the rest – they, too, have passed away, and taken their places
with the good of all time. Jefferson and John Adams – the author and the
defender of the Declaration – a hundred years ago to-day, were intently watching
the vote of the colonies which was to consummate their work. Precisely fifty
years there after on the semi Centennial Fourth, they passed from the scene of
their labors, blessed by Providence with the privilege of adding a new
significance to the cherished day of freedom. Another fifty years have since
left their impress on the republic, and now there is not a living representative
of “the times that tried men’s souls.” Inhabitants of the spirit land guide us
to the shrines where our hearts may communicate the love and homage which we
freely offer to-day to the good and great who left the precious legacy we now
enjoy! We honor them, and shall ever gladly think they are watching over and
protecting us –
“Their spirits skirt the dusky mountain,
Their memory sparkles o’er the fountain,
The meanest rill, the mightiest river,
Roll mingling with their name forever!”
Turning from the Fathers, and their work, it is fitting, on this Centennial day,
that a passing glance be given to the evidences of Progress everywhere
exhibited, and largely as the product of the principles which triumphed in the
Revolution. A hundred years ago there were thirteen feeble colonies, skirting
the Atlantic coast, and when independence was achieved the Mississippi was the
western boundary of the Republic. Now there are thirty-eight States, many of
them great and powerful, and nine territories, and no rival flag separates us
from the western ocean. Then there were scarcely three millions of people, now
there are over forty millions. In territory we have gained about three times and
in population more than twelve times, in a hundred years. Then there were half a
million of slaves; eighty years after there were four millions; now, there is
not one. God be praised that on this Centennial anniversary, the star and
stripes do not float over a single slave! When Washington became President,
eighty seven years ago, all the shipping of America only rated 201,562 tons, and
the foreign trade amounted to $43,202,156 that year. In 1869 our shipping
aggregated 4,107,336 tons; and the foreign trade $1,003,066,748; in ’76 there
were few schools; in 1870 there were 542 dailies and 4,425 weeklies, and the
number of each had nearly quadrupled in the previous thirty years. That this is
largely due to our institutions is evident from the fact that nearly half the
publications of the world are issued in the United States – so close is the
relationship between the press and self-government! Then the country was poor,
but in 1870 the assessed valuation of real and personal property was over
fourteen thousand millions, and the true value was placed at $30,068,518,507,
being an increase of four times from 1850, only twenty years before.
A like amazing increase is seen in farming acreage. In 1850, the total acreage
of farms was 293,560,614 acres; of which 113,032,614 acres were under
improvement. In 1870 the total average had expanded to 407,735,045, and the
amount improved to 188,921,099 acres – an increase of one third in twenty years;
and at the latter date there were in the country 2,650,000 farms, or as many
farms as there were men, women and children in the country at the time of the
Declaration. So the value of farming machinery ran up in round numbers from one
hundred and fifty one million dollars in 1850 to three hundred and thirty six
million in 1870. So, also, the wheat crop went up from one hundred million
bushels, in the same period, to three hundred millions; the number of farm
horses from four millions to seven millions; and the value of all live stock
from $544, 180, 510 in 1850 to the prodigious sum of $1,525,276,457 in 1870.
Invention, it is probably safe to say, has been stimulated a thousand fold by
the influence and example of the American system. The cotton gin, a Yankee
improvement, gave a marvelous impulse to the growth of cotton as a staple, and
manufacturing as a branch of industry, as well as to American slavery, which it
lured on to such arrogant demands as secured its downfall. Railroads and
steamboats were unknown a hundred years ago; now there are 75,000 miles of rail
in the Union – more than in all the world beside – every part of our great
country being interlaced and knit together by these wonderful bands – and the
steamboat is puffing out its black smoke, on every ocean, in every harbor, and
on all the navigable rivers of the world. Intelligence moved at a slow pace in
revolutionary times – now the telegraphic wire spans continents and hemispheres,
traversing regions of eternal ice, and stretching the darks abysses of ocean,
carrying the messages of prince and peasant with a rapidity only equaled by
thought itself. We have not only tickled the earth into fruitfulness with a
hundred machines of which the fathers never dreamed and reaped the results on
the rich prairies of the West of which the dwellers on the sterile soil of the
old colonies scarcely had a conception, but we have plunged into the bowels of
the earth, developing iron, coal, silver and gold mines, thereby adding
immensely to the national comfort and wealth. The shipments of the gold product
abroad, in twenty years, from our Pacific States and Territories, aggregate at
least a thousand millions of dollars.
In a like ratio, the condition of the people has improved, especially of the
masses, who now enjoy facilities of education and the comforts and luxuries of
life, equal to the most favored in revolutionary times. Then, and for many
subsequent decades, pioneering meant hardship, suffering, the permanent
separation of families, communication at long intervals, even by letter,
deprivation of schools, of church facilities, etc. Now, whole colonies,
embracing all trades and occupations, drop down together on the virgin prairie,
after traversing a thousand miles in a week, and soon a school, a church, a
blacksmith shop, a store, and quite likely a saloon, are all in full blast,
while the telegraph opens instantaneous communication with the dear ones left
behind.
Scarcely less remarkable changes have marked the history of other nations. The
great Napoleon, employing the dragon’s teeth of the Reign of Terror – the blind
attempt of ignorance to imitate American freedom – broke through the despotisms
of Europe, and to-day France is traveling toward genuine Republicanism as
rapidly as she can bear the light. England, which sought to turn back the hand
on the dial of Time in dealing with the colonies, has done bravely for freedom
in a hundred years: Slavery abolished, the Catholics emancipated, the corn laws
repealed, popular suffrage extended, Ireland measurably free and happy – such
are the fruits of our example. Spain, revolutionized, still clings to monarchy,
but ignores Papal demands. Italy, formerly ruled by petty despots, now
consolidated, under a King, but essentially free. Germany, once more a nation
and an empire, is resting on popular intelligence, Russia, recently
semi-barbarous, is now dispensing with serfdom. Brazil is abrogating slavery
under a Portuguese Emperor. While in the far off Sandwich Islands, New Zealand
and Australia, lately the habitation of cannibals, and in Japan, clad with
exclusiveness like a coat of mail, are happy peoples basking in the sunshine of
civilization – shining stars in the vast waste of the Pacific. Does anybody
believe that these evidences of progress would have appeared if England had
throttled the revolt of ’76! It is clear that the face of the world has changed,
and is changing, under the influences set in motion a hundred years ago.
Do you ask for other evidences of advancement? See what diplomacy accomplished
in settling the Alabama claims with England. In other ages such a controversy
would have resulted in war. Then note the fact that we stand today on what was
foreign soil when the Declaration was signed. The vast region west of the
Mississippi came to us from Napoleon in 1803. What is it to be? It is an empire
in extent, and a paradise in fertility of soil. Our own loved Iowa is but a
small section of it – the best, we are apt to think, in climate and location –
and what has she accomplished in less than forty years? Her fifty-five thousand
square miles were organized into a territory in ’38; she was admitted as a State
in ’46, and boasted a population of 192,214 in 1850. In twenty years the
population increased six times, being 1,194,020 in 1870. According to the census
of that year, the value of land they owned as farms was $392,662,441, of farming
implements, $20,509,582; of farm products, $114, 386,441; of manufactured
articles, $46,534,332. Of railroads she had 3,800 miles in ’73. She is to-day
second in wheat, and first in corn growing, and bids fair to outstrip all
competitors as the Agricultural State of the Union.
But Iowa is not alone. The great Mississippi Valley is all rich, and will show
approximate result to what Iowa has achieved. Accepting, therefore, any
reasonable ration of increase, what may we not expect in the future? When the
next Centennial comes Iowa will be supporting from five to seven millions of
happy people – this mighty Valley will swarm with its tens of millions – and the
Seat of Empire, whether it carries with it the seat of government or not, will
be within a radius centering where we stand of a circle less than a thousand
miles in diameter. When that day comes the Father of Waters will be the outlet
of a commerce untold in volume and wealth. The undertaking of Eads to pry open
its great mouth with jetties having proved a success, ocean steamers will have
easy access not only to New Orleans, but eventually to St. Louis, and a trade
will spring up with England, France, the West Indies, and Central and South
America, of whose magnificent proportions the most sanguine now have scarcely a
conception. That will be the millennial period of the West, when the Mississippi
cities – and Clinton prominent among them – will teem with manufacturers,
exchanging their products at the least cost of transportation with the workers
of the soil, holding the accumulations of each State’s industry within its own
border, as far as practicable, and so pouring over it a continuous stream of
wealth, developing all its resources and stimulating every branch of enterprise.
This great, rich country, trembling with the tread of busy millions, dotted with
splendid cities, the garden of the earth, the seat of American power -
predominant in wealth, refinement and culture – the home of liberty – will be
the abode of our children, the field of their effort, the place where they will
play their part in the drama of life; and for all that will make it most
desirable, for the full fruition of greatness of which it is capable, they may
bless this generation for purging it of African Slavery, as we now look back and
bless the fathers for emancipation from British rule.
Do you thing this picture overdrawn, and feel tempted to question the perpetuity
of the republic? Such forebodings, if not groundless, are at least unnecessary.
What has been achieved may be accepted as a guaranty of future triumphs. When
the Continental Congress issued the Declaration it took the hazard that the
people would fail to maintain it; but feeble as they were in numbers, deficient
in education, and lacking in wealth, they bore bravely up against the
vicissitudes of war, suffered defeat, submitted to the sacrifice of husbands,
brothers and sons, and to poverty and pestilence, but never relaxed their
efforts until the heel of the Briton was lifted from their necks. So, when
Rebellion reared its hydra head in the form of Secession and armed revolt – when
the advocates of Slavery declared it must become the corner stone of the
republic, or the Union should be destroyed – and the issue of war had been
accepted by Lincoln and the congress of 1861, the vital question then presented
was, will the people freely pour out their blood, offer their sons a sacrifice,
devote their property to the public service, and bear up under defeat and
disaster, until this monster rebellion is utterly crushed? It was a terrible
inquiry. They had almost forgotten the art of war, had learned to hate
bloodshed, and were absorbed in the chase for gold. But what a grand reply came
up from the heart of the peace-loving masses! “Draw on us for the last man, and
the last dollar! The liberty purchased with revolutionary blood must be
preserved, and the giant curse of slavery, then unwillingly retained, must be
torn out root and branch!” And for four years the youth of the North rushed into
the maelstrom of death, and the nation poured out its treasure, to save the
Republic. It was saved – not a star erased from the old flag, nor a root of soil
surrendered, and Succession, with slavery, went down and out forever.
So much we have done. Now we are afflicted with corruption, partly the fruit of
a great war, and we are told that it will finish us. But will not the same stern
spirit which breasted the tide of rebellion, and is still carrying the burden of
its debt, prove equal to the contest with corruption? Let us not be easily
discouraged. We have had two revolutionary epochs: 1st. For the liberty of the
white man – and this is making a visible strain upon our institutions now. The
old world statesmen of the last century looked upon the attempt at free
government here as an “experiment.” The honestly thought so. They did not
believe the masses of men could safely take part in governmental affairs. Nor
were the revolutionary sages sure of it, for they did not provide for universal
suffrage. For nearly fifty years after the Declaration, until the Constitution
of 1821, property did the voting in New York; and there can be no question that
the extension of suffrage, by bringing a larger number of the ignorant and venal
to the ballot box, enhanced the difficulty of securing an intelligent and honest
decision at the polls. So the recent introduction of four millions of freedmen
to this high privilege, has certainly added to these embarrassments. But it was
necessary for their protection, in their respective States, under our complex
form of government, whether they were prepared for so great a responsibility or
not. Hence it was the highest wisdom, as the least of two evils, and we must
seek to overcome the disadvantages resulting there from, with all others
incident to our system, including venality in official life, as best we may. The
American people are equal to the solution of the problem, if how to maintain
self government with a free ballot box. We must look to the schools, the press,
Christianity, patriotism, principle and intellect, to carry us through. This is
the great trial of free institutions – the ordeal which must be passed in
establishing self-government among men – and if the good, the wise and pure,
will take part in primary meetings, and help to free them of the littleness of
selfish chicanery, I will answer for the triumph of honesty and intelligence at
the ballot box. Tennyson’s pregnant line will do for a motto:
“On God and God-like men we build our trust.”
We must shake off such tyrants as political and official corruption,
intemperance and vice – break through the fetters of prejudice and ignorance –
and stand erect as independent, intellectual and moral beings, determined to do
what is right because it is right, and to uphold all the best interests of our
common humanity.
Our fathers turned a deep furrow through the superstitions of ages when they
planted the young republic. We are still holding the same plow. Greed and power
never lacked pretexts for robbery and despotism. The Kings claimed a divine
right to bestride the necks of the people. The slave holder invented a like plea
for his abomination, when he made State sovereignty or hostility to the national
government, the shield of his scheme to rivet the shackles of the slave. The
same plea is yet used to pave the way for a return to serfdom as a substitute
for slavery. But all such subterfuges will fail. We are surely moving towards
more certain guarantees of human rights. All nationalities are participating,
and we cannot go backward.
Woman has been accorded an improved position, which she is fortifying with high
culture, and demonstrations of aptitude for useful fields of labor. She is no
longer the drudge or plaything, but the inheritor of rights. The doors of the
college and university fly open at her approach – many callings invite her to a
test of her powers. She is learning to be, what every human creature should be
in the Centennial year, and all other years, independent. Where she will stop, I
know not, but I trust it will be within boundaries that will retain for her the
willing respect and homage, courtesy and love, of her brother, man. She may not
be a participant in political control, but she may aspire to be, and is likely
to become, the educator as well as the mother of the race.
The spirit of the age revolts at fetters. Creeds are melting into common forms
of truth, and differences of sect are regarded more as matters of taste than as
covering essentials in belief. We are learning to take broader views than
formerly – the fathers failed to practice the toleration which the logic of
their principles required, either in politics or religion. But time, discussion,
growth, and change in organic law, have exercised a wonderful influence upon the
mass of mind. It is becoming a settled axiom that pressure will not control the
opinions of men, nor their general course of conduct, and that they are not
likely to be better than reason and argument will make them. This fact renders
easier the assimilation of various nationalities, and their enjoyment of a
common citizenship. Here men of all climes, all creeds, all colors, if animated
by an honest purpose, are made to realize that American liberty was intended for
them. The German, the Irishman, the Swede, the Norwegian, the Jew, all find a
welcome to our glorious country – to the enjoyment of its freedom, to ownership
of its fertile soil, to its business advantages, to its schools and colleges,
and to participation in the franchises which confer upon whoever receives them
the noble title of freemen.
Standing then, in this presence, with all the sacred association and memories of
the Centennial day, crowding upon us, let us each pledge the other to do what in
us lies to preserve the great legacy received from the fathers, and to transmit
it untarnished to those who come after us, remembering that an omnipresent
press, universal intelligence, freedom for all – the widest scope of endeavor,
for man and woman – are alike the product and guarantee of American institutions
– the legitimate fruit of that sublime act of political daring, the Declaration
of Independence, one hundred years ago!