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Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"LP" |
| Date: |
27 Sep 2004 09:49:06 PM |
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Declaration of Independence by Robert G. Ingersoll |
Declaration of Independence
by Robert G. Ingersoll
Copyright 1924 by M.A. Donohue & Company
Chicago - New York
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: The Declaration of Independence is the grandest,
the bravest, and the profoundest political document that was ever
signed by the representatives of a people. It is the embodiment of
physical and moral courage, and of political wisdom.
I say of physical courage because it was a declaration of war against
the most powerful nation then on the globe; a declaration of war by
thirteen weak, unorganized colonies, a declaration of war by a few
people, without military stores, without wealth, without strength,
against the most powerful kingdom on the earth; a declaration of war
made when the British navy -- at that day the mistress of every sea --
was hovering along the coast of America, looking after defenseless
towns and villages to ravish and destroy. It was made when thousands
of English soldiers were upon our soil, and when the principle cities
of America were in the substantial possession of the enemy. And so, I
say, all things considered, it was the bravest political document ever
signed by man. And if it was physically brave, the moral courage of
the document is almost infinitely beyond the physical. They had the
courage not only, but they had the almost infinite wisdom to declare
that all men are created equal. (Applause.)
With one blow, with one stroke of the pen, they struck down all the
cruel, heartless barriers that aristocracy, that priestcraft, that
kingcraft had raised between man and man. They struck down with one
immortal blow that infamous spirit of caste that makes a God almost a
beast, and a beast almost a god. With one word, with one blow they
wiped away and utterly destroyed all that had been done by centuries
of war -- centuries of hypocrisy -- centuries of injustice.
What more did they do? They then declared that each man has a right to
live. And what does that mean? It means that he has the right to make
his living. It means that he has the right to breathe the air, to work
the land, that he stands the equal of every other human being beneath
the shining stars, entitled to the product of his labor -- the labor
of his hand and of his brain.
What more? That every man has right to pursue his own happiness in his
own way. Grander words than these have never been spoken by man.
And what more did these men say? They laid down the doctrine that
governments were instituted among men for the purpose of preserving
the rights of the people. The old idea was that people existed solely
for the benefit of the state -- that is to say, for kings and nobles.
The old idea was that the people were the wards of the king and priest
-- that their bodies belong to one and their souls to the other.
And what more? That the people are the source of political power. That
was not only a revelation, but it was a revolution. It changed the
ideas of people with regard to the source of political power. For the
first time it made human beings men. What was the old idea? The old
idea was that no political power came from, nor in any manner belonged
to the people. The old idea was that the political power came from the
clouds; that the political power came in some miraculous way from
heaven; that it came down to kings, and queens and robbers. That was
the old idea. The nobles lived upon the labor of the people; the
people had no rights; the nobles stole what they had and divided with
the kings, and the kings pretended to divide what they stole with God
Almighty. The source, then, of political power was from above. The
people were responsible to the nobles, the nobles to the king, and the
people had no political right whatever, no more than the wild beasts
of the forest. The kings were responsible to God; not the people. They
were responsible to the clouds, not to the toiling millions they
robbed and plundered.
And our forefathers, in this declaration of independence, reversed
this thing, and said; No, the people, they are the source of political
power, and their rulers -- these presidents, these kings -- are but
the agents and servants of the great, sublime people. For the first
time, really, in the history of the world, the king was made to get
off the throne, and the people were royally seated thereon. The people
became the sovereigns, and the old sovereigns became the servants and
the agents of the people. It is hard for you and me now to imagine
even the immense results of the change. It is hard for you and me, at
this day, to understand how thoroughly it had been ingrained in the
brain of almost every man, that the king had some wonderful right over
him; that in some strange way the king owned him; that in some
miraculous manner he belonged, body and soul, to somebody who rode on
a horse, to somebody with epaulettes on his shoulders and a tinsel
crown upon his brainless head. (Applause.)
Our forefathers had been educated in that idea, and when they first
landed on American shores they believed it. They thought they belonged
to somebody, and that they must be loyal to some thief, who could
trace his pedigree back to antiquity's most successful robber.
It took a long time for them to get that idea out of their heads and
hearts. They were three thousand miles away from the despotisms of the
old world, and every wave of the sea was an assistant to them. The
distance helped to disenchant their minds of that infamous belief, and
every miles between them and the pomp and glory of monarchy helped to
put republican ideas and thoughts into their minds. Besides that, when
they came to this country, and three thousand miles of waves on the
other side, menaced by barbarians on the one side, and famine on the
other, they learned that a man who had courage, a man who had thought,
was as good as any other man in the world, and they built up, as it
were in spite of themselves, little republics. And the man that had
the most nerve and heart was the best man, whether he had any noble
blood in his veins or not. (Applause.)
It has been a favorite idea with me that our forefathers were educated
by Nature; that they grew grand as the continent upon which they
landed; that the great rivers -- the wide plains -- the splendid lakes
-- the lonely forests -- the sublime mountains -- that all these
things stole into and became a part of their being, and they grew
great as the country in which they lived. They began to hate the
narrow, contracted views of Europe. They were educated by their
surroundings, and every little colony had to be, to a certain extent,
a republic. The kings of the old world endeavored to parcel out this
land to their favorites. But there were too many Indians. There was
too much courage required for them to take and keep it, and so men had
to come here who were dissatisfied with the old country -- who were
dissatisfied with England, dissatisfied with France, with Germany,
with Ireland and Holland. The kings' favorites stayed at home. Men
came here for liberty and on account of certain principles they
entertained and held dearer than life. And they were willing to work,
willing to fell the forests, willing to go through all the hardships,
perils and dangers of a new country, of a new land; and the
consequence was that our country was settled by brave and adventurous
spirits; by men who had opinions of their own and were willing to live
in the wild forests for the sake of expressing these opinions, even if
they expressed them only to trees and rocks. The best blood of the old
world came to the new.
When they first came over they did not have a great deal of political
philosophy, nor the best ideas of liberty. We might as well tell the
truth. When the Puritans first came, they were narrow. They did not
understand what liberty meant -- what religious liberty, what
political liberty, was; but they found out in a few years. There was
one feeling among them that rises to their eternal honor like a white
shaft to the clouds -- they were in favor of education. Where they
went they built school houses, introduced books, and ideas of
literature. They believed that every man should know how to read and
write, and should find out all that his capacity allowed him to
comprehend. That is the glory of the Puritan fathers.
They forgot in a little while what they had suffered, and they forgot
to apply the principle of universal liberty -- of toleration. Some of
the colonies did not forget it, and I want to give credit where credit
should be given. The Catholics of Maryland were the first people on
the continent to declare universal religious toleration. Let this be
remembered to their eternal honor. Let it be remembered to the
disgrace of the Protestant government of England, that it caused this
grand law to be repealed. And to the honor and credit of the Catholics
of Maryland let it be remembered, that the moment they got back into
power they reenacted the old law. The Baptists of Rhode Island also,
lead by Roger Williams, were in favor of universal religious liberty.
No American should fail to honor Roger Williams. He was the first
grand advocate of the liberty of the soul. He was in favor of the
eternal divorce of church and state. So far as I know, he was the only
man at that time in this country who was in favor of real religious
liberty. While the Catholics of Maryland declared in favor of
religious toleration, they had no idea of religious liberty. They
would not allow any one to call in question the doctrine of the
Trinity, or the inspiration of the Scriptures. They stood ready with
branding iron and gallows to burn and choke out of a man the idea that
he had a right to think and to express his thoughts.
So many religions met in our country -- so many theories and dogmas
came in contact -- so many follies, mistakes and stupidities became
acquainted with each other, that religion began to fall somewhat into
disrepute. Besides this, the question of a new nation began to take
precedence of all others.
The people were too much interested in this world to quarrel about the
next. The preacher was lost in the patriot. The Bible was read to find
passages against kings.
Everybody was discussing the rights of man. Farmers and mechanics
suddenly became statesmen, and in every shop and cabin nearly every
question was asked and answered.
During these years of political excitement the interest in religion
bated to that degree that a common purpose animated men of all sects
and creeds. (Applause.)
At last our fathers became colonists -- tired of writing and reading
and signing petitions and presenting them on their bended knees to an
idiot king. They began to have an aspiration to form a new nation; to
be citizens of a new republic instead of subjects of an old monarchy.
They had the idea. The Puritans, the Catholics, the Episcopalians, the
Baptists, the Quakers, and a few Free Thinkers, all had the idea that
they would form a new nation.
Now, do not understand that all our fathers were in favor of
independence. Do not understand that they were all like Jefferson;
that they were all like Adams or Lee; that they were all like Thomas
Paine or John Hancock. There were thousands and thousands of them who
were opposed to American independence. There were thousands and
thousands who said "When you say men are created equal, it is a lie;
when you say the political power resides in the great body of the
people, it is false." Thousands and thousands of them said: "We prefer
Great Britain." But the men who were in favor of independence, the men
who knew that a new nation must be born, went on full of hope and
courage, and nothing could daunt or stop or stay the heroic, fearless
few.
They met in Philadelphia; and the resolution was moved by Lee or
Virginia that the colonies ought to be independent states, and ought
to dissolve their political connections with Great Britain.
They made up their minds that a new nation must be formed. All nations
had been, so to speak, the wards of some church. The religious idea as
to the source of power had been at the foundation, of all governments
and had been the bane and curse of man.
Happily for us, there was no church strong enough to dictate to the
rest. Fortunately for us, the colonists not only but the colonies
differed widely in their religious views. There were the Puritans, who
hate the Episcopalians; the Episcopalians, who hated the Catholics;
and the Catholics, who hated both, while the Quakers held them all in
contempt. There they were, of every sort and color and kind, and how
was it that they came together? They had a common aspiration. They
wanted to form a new nation. More than that, most of them cordially
hated Great Britain; and they pledged each other to forget their
religious prejudices for a time, at least, and agreed that there
should be only one religion until they got through -- and that was the
religion of patriotism. They solemnly agreed that the new nation
should not belong to any particular church but that it should secure
the rights of all.
Our fathers founded the first secular government that was ever founded
in this world. Recollect that. The first secular government; the first
government that said every church has exactly the same rights, and no
more; every religion has the same rights, and no more. In other words,
our fathers were the first men who had the sense, who had the genius,
to know that no church should be allowed to have a sword; that it
should be allowed only to exert its moral influence. (Applause.)
You might as well have a government united by force with Art, or with
Poetry, or with Oratory as with Religion. Religion should have the
influence upon mankind that its goodness, that its morality, its
justice, its charity, its reason, and its argument give it, and no
more. Religion should have the effect upon mankind that it necessarily
has, and no more. The religion that has to be supported by law is
without value not only but a fraud and a curse. The religious argument
that has to be supported by a musket is hardly worth making. A prayer
that must have a cannon behind it better never be uttered. Forgiveness
ought not to go in partnership with shot and shell. Love need not
carry knives and revolvers.
So our fathers said: "We will form a secular government, and under the
flag which we are going to enrich our air we will allow every man to
worship God as he thinks best." They said: "Religion is an individual
thing between each man and his Creator, and he can worship as he
pleases and as he desires." And why did they do this? The history of
the world warned them that the liberty of man was not safe in the
clutch and grasp of any church. They had read of and seen the
thumb-screws, the racks and the dungeons of the Inquisition. They knew
all about the hypocrisy of the olden time. They knew that the church
had stood side by side with the throne; that the high priests were
hypocrites, and that the kings were robbers. They also knew that if
they gave to any church power, it would corrupt the best church in the
world. And so they said that power must not reside in a church, nor in
a sect, but power must be wherever humanity is - in the great body of
the people. And the officers and servants of the people must be
responsible to them. And so I say again, as I said in the
commencement, this is the wisest, the profoundest, the bravest
political document that was ever written.
They turned, as I tell you, everything squarely about. They derived
all their authority from the people. They did away forever with the
theological idea of government.
And what more did they say? They said that wherever the rules abused
this authority, the power, incapable of destruction, returned to the
people. How did they come to say this? I will tell you; they were
pushed into it. How? They felt that they were oppressed; and whenever
a man feels that he is the subject of injustice, his perception of
right and wrong is wonderfully quickened.
Nobody was ever in prison wrongfully who did not believe in the writ
of habeas corpus. Nobody ever suffered wrongfully without instantly
having ideas of justice.
And they began to inquire what rights the king of Great Britain had.
They began to search for the charter of his authority. They began to
investigate and dig down to the bedrock upon which society must be
founded, and when they got down there -- forced there, too, by their
oppressors; forced against their own prejudices and education -- they
found at the bottom of things, not lords, not nobles, not pulpits, not
thrones, but humanity and the rights of men. (Tremendous cheering.)
And so they said, we are men; we are men. They found out they were
men. And the next they said was: "We will be free men; we are weary of
being colonists; we are tired of being subjects; we are men; and these
colonies ought to be states and these states ought to be a nation; and
that nation ought to drive the last British soldier into the sea." And
so they signed that brave declaration of independence.
I thank every one of them from the bottom of my heart for signing that
sublime declaration. I thank them for their courage -- for their
patriotism -- for their wisdom -- for the splendid confidence in
themselves and in the human race. I thank them for what they did and
for what we have received -- for what they suffered and for what we
enjoy. (Applause.)
What would we have been if we have remained colonists and subjects?
What would we have been to-day? Nobodies -- ready to get down on our
knees and crawl in the very dust at the sight of somebody that was
supposed to have in him some drop of blood that flowed in the veins of
that mailed marauder, that royal robber William the Conqueror.
They signed that declaration of independence, although they knew that
it would produce a long, terrible and bloody war. they looked forward
and saw poverty, deprivation, gloom and death. But they also saw on
the wrecked clouds of war the beautiful bow of freedom.
These grand men were enthusiastic; and the world had only been raised
by enthusiasts. In every country there has been a few who have given a
national aspiration to the people. The enthusiasts of 1776 were the
builders and framers of this great and splendid government; and they
were the men who saw, although others did not, the golden fringe of
the mantle of glory that will finally cover this world. They knew,
they felt, they believed that they would give a new constellation to
the political heavens -- that they would make the Americans a grand
people -- grand as the continent upon which they lived.
The war commenced. There was little money, and less credit. The new
nation had but few friends. To a great extent each soldier of freedom
had to clothe and feed himself. He was poor and pure -- brave and good
-- and so he went to the fields of death to fight for the rights of
man.
What did the soldier have when he went?
He left his wife and children.
Did he leave them in a beautiful home, surrounded by civilization, in
the repose of law, in the security of a great and powerful republic?
No. He left his wife and children on the edge, on the fringe of the
boundless forest. He left his wife to defend herself, and he left the
prattling babes to be defended by their mother and by Nature. The
mother made the living; she planted the corn and the potatoes and hoed
them in the sun, raised the children, and in the darkness of night
told them about their brave father and the "sacred cause". She told
them that in a little while the war would be over and father would
come back covered with honor and glory.
Think of the women, of the sweet children who listened for the
footsteps of the dead -- who waited through the sad and desolate years
for the ones who never came.
The soldiers of 1776 did not march away with music and banners. They
went in silence, looked at and gazed after by eyes filled with tears.
They went to meet, not an equal but a superior -- to fight five times
their number -- to make a desperate stand -- to stop the advance of
the enemy -- and then, when the ammunition gave out, seek the
protection of rocks, of rivers, and of hills.
Let me say here: The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear
defeat without losing heart. That army is the bravest that can be
whipped the greatest number of times and fight again.
Over the entire territory, so to speak, then settled by our
forefathers, they were driven again and again. Now and then they would
meet the English with something like equal numbers, and then the eagle
of victory would proudly perch upon the stripes and stars. And so they
went on as best they could, hoping and fighting, until they came to
the dark and somber gloom of Valley Forge.
There were very few hearts then beneath that flag which did not begin
to think that the struggle was useless; that all the blood and
treasure had been spent and shed in vain. But there were some men
gifted with that wonderful prophecy that fulfills itself, and that
wonderful magnetic power that makes heroes of everybody they come in
contact with.
And so our fathers went through the gloom of that terrible time and
still fought on. Brave men wrote grand words, cheering the despondent;
brave men did brave deeds; the rich man gave his wealth; the poor man
gave his life, until at last, by the victory at Yorktown, the old
banner won its place in the air and became glorious forever.
(Applause.)
Seven long years of war -- fighting for what? For the principle that
all men are created equal -- a truth that nobody ever disputed except
a scoundrel; nobody, nobody in the entire history of the world. No man
ever denied that truth who was not a rascal and at heart a thief;
never, never and never will. What else were they fighting for? Simply
that in America every man should have a right to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness. Nobody ever denied that except a villain;
never, never. It has been denied by kings; they were thieves. It has
been denied by statesmen; they were liars. It has been denied by
priests, by clergymen, by cardinals, by bishops, and by popes; they
were hypocrites. (Vociferous cheering.)
What else were they fighting for? For the idea that all political
power is vested in the great body of people. The great body of the
people make all the money; do all the work. They plow the land; cut
down the forests. They produce everything that is produced. Then who
shall say what shall be done with what is produced except the
producer? Is it the non-producing thief sitting on a throne surrounded
by vermin?
The history of civilization is the history of the slow and painful
enfranchisement of the human race. In the olden times the family was a
monarchy, the father being the monarch. The mother and children were
the veriest slaves. The will of the father was the supreme law. He had
the power of life and death. It took thousands of years to civilize
this father; thousands of years to make the conditions of wife and
mother and child even tolerable. A few families constituted a tribe;
the tribe had a chief; the chief was a tyrant; a few tribes formed a
nation; the nation was governed by a king, who was also a tyrant. A
strong nation robbed, plundered, and took captive the weaker ones.
This was the commencement of human slavery.
It is not possible for the human imagination to conceive of the
horrors of slavery. It has left no possible crime uncommitted, no
possible cruelty unperpetrated. It has been practiced and defended by
all nations in some form. It has been upheld by all religions. It has
been defended by nearly every pulpit. From the profits derived from
the slave trade churches have been built, cathedrals reared, and
priests paid. Slavery has been blessed by bishop, by cardinal, and by
pope. It has received the sanction of statesmen, of kings, and queens.
It has been defended by the throne, the pulpit, and the bench.
Monarchs have shared in the profits. Clergymen have taken their part
of the spoil, reciting passages of Scripture in its defense at the
same time, and judges have taken their portion in the name of equity
and law.
Only a few years ago our ancestors were slaves. Only a few years ago
they passed with and belonged to the soil, like coal under it and
rocks on it. Only a few years ago they were treated like beasts of
burden, worse far than we treat our animals at the present day. Only a
few years ago it was a crime in England for a man to have a Bible in
his house -- a crime for which men were hanged and their bodies
afterward burned. Only a few years ago fathers could, and did, sell
their children. Only a few years ago our ancestors were not allowed to
speak or write their thoughts -- that being a crime. Only a few years
ago to be honest, at least in the expression of your ideas, was a
felony. To do right was a capital offense; and in those days chains
and whips were the incentives to labor and the prevention of thought.
Honesty was a vagrant, Justice a fugitive, and Liberty in chains. Only
a few years ago men were denounced because they doubted the
inspiration of the Bible -- because they denied miracles and laughed
at the wonders recounted by the ancient Jews. (Applause.)
Only a few years ago a man had to believe in the total depravity of
the human heart in order to be respectable. Only a few years ago
people who thought God too good to punish in eternal flames an
unbaptised child were considered infamous. (Applause.)
As soon as our ancestors began to get free they began to enslave
others. With an inconsistency that defies explanation, they practiced
upon others the same outrages that had been perpetrated upon them. As
soon as white slavery began to be abolished black slavery commenced.
In this infamous traffic nearly every nation of Europe embarked.
Fortunes were quickly realized; the avarice and cupidity of Europe was
excited; all ideas of justice were discarded; pity fled from the human
breast; a few good, brave men recited the horrors of the trade;
avarice was deaf; religion refused to hear; the trade went on; the
governments of Europe upheld it in the name of commerce -- in the name
of civilization and of religion.
Our fathers knew the history of caste. They knew that in the
despotisms of the old world it was a disgrace to be useful. They knew
that a mechanic was esteemed as hardly the equal of a hound, and far
below a blooded horse. They knew that a nobleman held a son of labor
in contempt; that he had no rights the royal loafers were bound to
respect.
The world was changed.
The other day there came shoemakers, potters, workers in wood and
iron, from Europe and they were received in the city of New York as
though they had been princes. They had been sent by the great republic
of France to examine into the arts and manufactures of the great
republic of America. They looked a thousand times better to me than
Edward Alberts and Albert Edwards -- the royal vermin that live on the
holy politic. And I would think much more of our government if it
would fete and feast them, instead of wining and dining the imbeciles
of a royal line. (Loud and long continued applause.)
Our fathers devoted their lives and fortunes to the grand work of
founding a government for the protection of the rights of man. The
theological idea as to the source of political power has poisoned the
web and wool of every government in the world, and our fathers
banished it from this continent forever.
What we want today is what our fathers wrote down. They did not attain
to their ideal; we approach it nearer, but have not reached it yet. We
want not only the independence of state, not only the independence of
a nation, but something far more glorious -- the absolute independence
of the individual. That is what we want. I want it so that I, one of
the children of Nature, can stand on an equality with the rest; that I
can say this is my air, my sunshine, my earth, and I have a right to
live, and hope, and aspire, and labor and enjoy the fruit of that
labor, as much as any individual or any nation on the face of the
globe.
We want every American to make to-day, on this hundredth anniversary,
a declaration of individual independence. Let each man enjoy his
liberty to the utmost -- enjoy all he can; but be sure it is not at
the expense of another. The French convention gave the best definition
of liberty I ever read: "The liberty of one citizen ceases only where
the liberty of another citizen commences." I know of no better
definition. I ask you to-day to make a declaration of individual
independence. Allow your wife, allow your husband, allow your children
to make theirs. Let everybody be absolutely free and independent,
knowing only the sacred obligation of honesty and affection. Let us be
independent of party, independent of everybody and everything except
our own consciences and our own brains. Do not belong to any clique.
Have the clear title deeds in fee simple to yourselves, without any
mortgage on the premises to anybody in the world.
It is a grand thing to be the owner of yourself. It is a grand thing
to protect the rights of others. It is a sublime thing to be free and
just.
Only a few days ago I stood in Independence Hall -- in that little
room where was signed the immortal paper. A little room, like any
other; and it did not seem possible that from that room went forth
ideas, like cherubim and seraphim, which spread their wings over a
continent, and touched, as with holy fire, the hearts of men.
In a few moments I was in the park where are gathered the
accomplishments of a century. Our fathers never dreamed of the things
I saw. There were hundreds of locomotives, with their nerves of steel
and breath of flame -- every kind of machine, with whirling wheels and
curious cogs and cranks, and the myriad thoughts of men that have been
wrought in iron, brass and steel. And going out from one little
building were wires in the air, stretching to every civilized nation,
and they could send a shining messenger in a moment to any part of the
world, and would go sweeping under the waves of the sea with thoughts
and words within its glowing heart. I saw all that had been achieved
by this nation, and I wished that the signers of the Declaration --
the soldiers of the Revolution -- could see what a century of freedom
has produced. I wished they could see the fields we cultivate -- the
rivers we navigate -- the railroads running over the Alleghenies, far
into what was then the unknown forest -- on over the broad prairies --
on over the vast plains away over the mountains of the West, to the
Golden Gate of the Pacific.
All this is the result of a hundred years of freedom. (Applause.)
Are you not more than glad that in 1776 was announced the sublime
principle that political power resides with the people -- that our
fathers then made up their minds nevermore to be colonists and
subjects, but that they would be free and independent citizens of
America?
I will not name any of the grand men who fought for liberty. All
should be named, or none. I feel that the unknown soldier who was shot
down without even his name being remembered -- who was included only
in a report of "a hundred killed" or "a hundred missing," nobody
knowing ever the number that attached to his august corpse -- is
entitled to as deep and heartfelt thanks as the titled leader who fell
at the head of the host.
Standing here amid the sacred memories of the first, on the golden
threshold of the second, I ask: Will the second century be as grand as
the first? I believe it will, because we are growing more and more
humane. I believe there is more human kindness, more real sweet, human
sympathy, a greater desire to help one another, in the United States
than in all the world besides. (Applause.)
We must progress. We are just at the commencement of invention. The
steam engine -- the telegraph -- these are but the toys with which
science has been amused. Wait: there will be grander things; there
will be a wider and higher culture -- a grander standard of character,
of literature and art.
We have now half as many millions of people as we have years, and many
of us will live until a hundred millions stand beneath the flag. We
are getting more real solid sense. The schoolhouse is the finest
building in the village. We are writing and reading more books; we are
painting and buying more pictures; we are struggling more and more to
get at the philosophy of life, of things -- trying more and more to
answer the questions of the eternal Sphinx. We are looking in every
direction -- investigation; in short, we are thinking and working.
Besides all this, I believe the people are nearer honest than ever
before. A few years ago we were willing to live upon the labor of
4,000,000 slaves. Was that honest? At last, we have a national
conscience. At last we have carried our the Declaration of
Independence. Our fathers wrote it -- we have accomplished it. The
black man was a slave -- we have made him a citizen. We found
4,000,000 human beings in manacles, and now the hands of a race are
held up in the free air without a chain.
I have had the supreme pleasure of seeing a man -- once a slave --
sitting in the seat of his former master in the Congress of the United
States. I have had that pleasure, and when I saw it my eyes filled
with tears. I felt that we had carried out the Declaration of
Independence -- that we had given reality to it and breathed the
breath of life into its every word. I felt that our flag would float
over and protect the colored man and his little children -- standing
straight in the sun -- just the same as thought he were white and
worth a million. I would protect him more, because the rich white man
could protect himself. (Applause.)
All who stand beneath our banner are free. Ours is the only flag that
has in reality written upon it Liberty, Fraternity, Equality -- the
three grandest words in all the languages of men.
Liberty -- Give to every man the fruit of his own labor; the labor of
his hands and of his brain.
Fraternity -- Every man in the right is my brother.
Equality -- The rights of all are equal. Justice poised and balanced
in eternal claim will shake from the golden scales in which are
weighed the acts of men the very dust of prejudice and caste. No race,
no color, no previous conditions, can change the rights of men.
The Declaration of Independence has at last been carried out in letter
and spirit.
Fifty millions of people are celebrating this day. To-day the black
man looks upon his child and says: "The avenues of distinction are
open to you -- upon your brow may fall the civic wreath, This day
belongs to you."
We are a great people. Three millions have increased to fifty;
thirteen states to thirty-eight. We have better homes, better clothes,
better food and more of it, and more of the conveniences of life, than
any other people upon the globe.
The farmers of our country live better than did the kings and princes
two hundred years ago -- and they have twice as much sense and heart.
Liberty and labor have been given to all. I want every person here to
believe in the dignity of labor -- to know that the respectable man is
the useful man -- the man who produces or helps others to produce
something of value, whether thought of the brain or work of the mind.
I want you to go away with an eternal hatred in your breast of
injustice, of aristocracy, of caste, of the idea that one man has more
rights than another because he has better clothes, more land, more
money; because he owns a railroad, or is famous and in high position.
Remember that all men have equal rights. Remember that the man who
acts best his part -- who loves his friends the best -- is most
willing to help others -- truest to the obligation -- who has the best
heart -- the most feeling -- the deepest sympathies -- and who freely
gives to others the rights that he claims for himself is the best man.
I am willing to swear to this.
What has made this country? I say again, liberty and labor. What would
we be without labor? I want every farmer, when plowing the rustling
corn of June -- while mowing in the perfumed fields -- to feel that he
is adding to the wealth and glory of the United States. I want every
mechanic -- ever man of toil -- to know and feel that he is keeping
the cars running, the telegraph wires in the air; that he is making
the statues and painting the pictures; that he is writing and printing
the books; that he is helping to fill the world with honor, with
happiness, with love and law.
Our country is founded upon the dignity of labor -- upon the equality
of man. Ours is the first real republic in the history of the world.
Beneath our flag the people are free. We have retired the gods from
politics. We have found that man is the only source of political power
and that the government should govern. We have disfranchised the
aristocrats of the air and have given one country to mankind.
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