{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-9:centennial-oration",
  "slug": "centennial-oration",
  "title": "Centennial Oration",
  "subtitle": "Peoria, Illinois, July 4, 1876.",
  "excerpt": "Ingersoll's great Fourth of July oration on the hundredth birthday of the Republic — 'our fathers retired the gods from politics' — delivered at Peoria, Illinois, 1876.",
  "year": 1876,
  "volume": 9,
  "category": "Political",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/centennial-oration/",
  "wordCount": 6781,
  "body": "• Delivered on the one hundredth Anniversary of the\n    Declaration of Independence, at Peoria, Ill., July 4, 1876.\n\nJuly 4, 1876.\n\nTHE Declaration of Independence is the grandest, the bravest, and\nthe profoundest political document that was ever signed by the\nrepresentatives of a people. It is the embodiment of physical and moral\ncourage and of political wisdom.\n\nI say of physical courage, because it was a declaration of war against\nthe most powerful nation then on the globe; a declaration of war by\nthirteen weak, unorganized colonies; a declaration of war by a few\npeople, without military stores, without wealth, without strength,\nagainst the most powerful kingdom on the earth; a declaration of war\nmade when the British navy, at that day the mistress of every sea, was\nhovering along the coast of America, looking after defenceless towns and\nvillages to ravage and destroy. It was made when thousands of English\nsoldiers were upon our soil, and when the principal cities of America\nwere in the substantial possession of the enemy. And so, I say, all\nthings considered, it was the bravest political document ever signed by\nman. And if it was physically brave, the moral courage of the document\nis almost infinitely beyond the physical. They had the courage not only,\nbut they had the almost infinite wisdom, to declare that all men are\ncreated equal.\n\nSuch things had occasionally been said by some political enthusiast in\nthe olden time, but, for the first time in the history of the world,\nthe representatives of a nation, the representatives of a real, living,\nbreathing, hoping people, declared that all men are created equal. With\none blow, with one stroke of the pen, they struck down all the cruel,\nheartless barriers that aristocracy, that priestcraft, that kingcraft\nhad raised between man and man. They struck down with one immortal blow\nthat infamous spirit of caste that makes a god almost a beast, and a\nbeast almost a god. With one word, with one blow, they wiped away and\nutterly destroyed, all that had been done by centuries of war—centuries\nof hypocrisy—centuries of injustice.\n\nOne hundred years ago our fathers retired the gods from politics.\n\nWhat more did they do? They then declared that each man has a right to\nlive. And what does that mean? It means that he has the right to make\nhis living. It means that he has the right to breathe the air, to work\nthe land, that he stands the equal of every other human being beneath\nthe shining stars; entitled to the product of his labor—the labor of\nhis hand and of his brain.\n\nWhat more? That every man has the right to pursue his own happiness in\nhis own way. Grander words than these have never been spoken by man.\n\nAnd what more did these men say? They laid down the doctrine that\ngovernments were instituted among men for the purpose of preserving the\nrights of the people. The old idea was that people existed solely for\nthe benefit of the state—that is to say, for kings and nobles.\n\nThe old idea was that the people were the wards of king and priest—that\ntheir bodies belonged to one and their souls to the other.\n\nAnd what more? That the people are the source of political power. That\nwas not only a revelation, but it was a revolution. It changed the ideas\nof people with regard to the source of political power. For the first\ntime it made human beings men. What was the old idea? The old idea was\nthat no political power came from, or in any manner belonged to, the\npeople. The old idea was that the political power came from the clouds;\nthat the political power came in some miraculous way from heaven; that\nit came down to kings, and queens, and robbers. That was the old idea.\nThe nobles lived upon the labor of the people; the people had no rights;\nthe nobles stole what they had and divided with the kings, and the kings\npretended to divide what they stole with God Almighty. The source, then,\nof political power was from above. The people were responsible to the\nnobles, the nobles to the king, and the people had no political rights\nwhatever, no more than the wild beasts of the forest. The kings were\nresponsible to God; not to the people. The kings were responsible to the\nclouds; not to the toiling millions they robbed and plundered.\n\nAnd our forefathers, in this Declaration of Independence, reversed this\nthing, and said: No; the people, they are the source of political power,\nand their rulers, these presidents, these kings are but the agents and\nservants of the great sublime people. For the first time, really, in the\nhistory of the world, the king was made to get off the throne and the\npeople were royally seated thereon. The people became the sovereigns,\nand the old sovereigns became the servants and the agents of the people.\nIt is hard for you and me now to even imagine the immense results of\nthat change. It is hard for you and for me, at this day, to understand\nhow thoroughly it had been ingrained in the brain of almost every man,\nthat the king had some wonderful right over him; that in some strange\nway the king owned him; that in some miraculous manner he belonged, body\nand soul, to somebody who rode on a horse—to somebody with epaulettes\non his shoulders and a tinsel crown upon his brainless head.\n\nOur forefathers had been educated in that idea, and when they first\nlanded on American shores they believed it. They thought they belonged\nto somebody, and that they must be loyal to some thief who could trace\nhis pedigree back to antiquity's most successful robber.\n\nIt took a long time for them to get that idea out of their heads and\nhearts. They were three thousand miles away from the despotisms of\nthe old world, and every wave of the sea was an assistant to them. The\ndistance helped to disenchant their minds of that infamous belief, and\nevery mile between them and the pomp and glory of monarchy helped to put\nrepublican ideas and thoughts into their minds. Besides that, when\nthey came to this country, when the savage was in the forest and three\nthousand miles of waves on the other side, menaced by barbarians on\nthe one hand and famine on the other, they learned that a man who had\ncourage, a man who had thought, was as good as any other man in the\nworld, and they built up, as it were, in spite of themselves, little\nrepublics. And the man that had the most nerve and heart was the best\nman, whether he had any noble blood in his veins or not.\n\nIt has been a favorite idea with me that our forefathers were educated\nby Nature, that they grew grand as the continent upon which they landed;\nthat the great rivers—the wide plains—the splendid lakes—the lonely\nforests—the sublime mountains—that all these things stole into and\nbecame a part of their being, and they grew great as the country in\nwhich they lived. They began to hate the narrow, contracted views of\nEurope. They were educated by their surroundings, and every little\ncolony had to be to a certain extent a republic. The kings of the old\nworld endeavored to parcel out this land to their favorites. But there\nwere too many Indians. There was too much courage required for them to\ntake and keep it, and so men had to come here who were dissatisfied with\nthe old country—who were dissatisfied with England, dissatisfied with\nFrance, with Germany, with Ireland and Holland. The kings' favorites\nstayed at home. Men came here for liberty, and on account of certain\nprinciples they entertained and held dearer than life. And they were\nwilling to work, willing to fell the forests, to fight the savages,\nwilling to go through all the hardships, perils and dangers of a new\ncountry, of a new land; and the consequence was that our country was\nsettled by brave and adventurous spirits, by men who had opinions of\ntheir own and were willing to live in the wild forests for the sake of\nexpressing those opinions, even if they expressed them only to trees,\nrocks, and savage men. The best blood of the old world came to the new.\n\nWhen they first came over they did not have a great deal of political\nphilosophy, nor the best ideas of liberty. We might as well tell the\ntruth. When the Puritans first came, they were narrow. They did not\nunderstand what liberty meant—what religious liberty, what political\nliberty, was; but they found out in a few years. There was one feeling\namong them that rises to their eternal honor like a white shaft to the\nclouds—they were in favor of universal education. Wherever they went\nthey built schoolhouses, introduced books and ideas of literature. They\nbelieved that every man should know how to read and how to write, and\nshould find out all that his capacity allowed him to comprehend. That is\nthe glory of the Puritan fathers.\n\nThey forgot in a little while what they had suffered, and they forgot\nto apply the principle of universal liberty—of toleration. Some of\nthe colonies did not forget it, and I want to give credit where credit\nshould be given. The Catholics of Maryland were the first people on the\nnew continent to declare universal religious toleration. Let this be\nremembered to their eternal honor. Let it be remembered to the disgrace\nof the Protestant government of England, that it caused this grand law\nto be repealed. And to the honor and credit of the Catholics of Maryland\nlet it be remembered that the moment they got back into power they\nre-enacted the old law. The Baptists of Rhode Island also, led by Roger\nWilliams, were in favor of universal religious liberty.\n\nNo American should fail to honor Roger Williams. He was the first grand\nadvocate of the liberty of the soul. He was in favor of the eternal\ndivorce of church and state. So far as I know, he was the only man at\nthat time in this country who was in favor of real religious liberty.\nWhile the Catholics of Maryland declared in favor of religious\ntoleration, they had no idea of religious liberty. They would not\nallow anyone to call in question the doctrine of the Trinity, or the\ninspiration of the Scriptures. They stood ready with branding-iron and\ngallows to burn and choke out of man the idea that he had a right to\nthink and to express his thoughts.\n\nSo many religions met in our country—so many theories and dogmas came\nin contact—so many follies, mistakes, and stupidities became acquainted\nwith each other, that religion began to fall somewhat into disrepute.\nBesides this, the question of a new nation began to take precedence of\nall others.\n\nThe people were too much interested in this world to quarrel about the\nnext. The preacher was lost in the patriot. The Bible was read to find\npassages against kings.\n\nEverybody was discussing the rights of man. Farmers and mechanics\nsuddenly became statesmen, and in every shop and cabin nearly every\nquestion was asked and answered.\n\nDuring these years of political excitement the interest in religion\nabated to that degree that a common purpose animated men of all sects\nand creeds.\n\nAt last our fathers became tired of being colonists—tired of writing\nand reading and signing petitions, and presenting them on their bended\nknees to an idiot king. They began to have an aspiration to form a new\nnation, to be citizens of a new republic instead of subjects of an\nold monarchy. They had the idea—the Puritans, the Catholics, the\nEpiscopalians, the Baptists, the Quakers, and a few Freethinkers, all\nhad the idea—that they would like to form a new nation.\n\nNow, do not understand that all of our fathers were in favor of\nindependence. Do not understand that they were all like Jefferson; that\nthey were all like Adams or Lee; that they were all like Thomas Paine\nor John Hancock. There were thousands and thousands of them who were\nopposed to American independence. There were thousands and thousands who\nsaid: \"When you say men are created equal, it is a lie; when you say the\npolitical power resides in the great body of the people, it is false.\"\nThousands and thousands of them said: \"We prefer Great Britain.\" But\nthe men who were in favor of independence, the men who knew that a new\nnation must be born, went on full of hope and courage, and nothing could\ndaunt or stop or stay the heroic, fearless few.\n\nThey met in Philadelphia; and the resolution was moved by Lee of\nVirginia, that the colonies ought to be independent states, and ought to\ndissolve their political connection with Great Britain.\n\nThey made up their minds that a new nation must be formed. All nations\nhad been, so to speak, the wards of some church. The religious idea as\nto the source of power had been at the foundation of all governments,\nand had been the bane and curse of man.\n\nHappily for us, there was no church strong enough to dictate to the\nrest. Fortunately for us, the colonists not only, but the colonies\ndiffered widely in their religious views. There were the Puritans who\nhated the Episcopalians, and Episcopalians who hated the Catholics,\nand the Catholics who hated both, while the Quakers held them all in\ncontempt. There they were, of every sort, and color and kind, and how\nwas it that they came together? They had a common aspiration. They\nwanted to form a new nation. More than that, most of them cordially\nhated Great Britain; and they pledged each other to forget these\nreligious prejudices, for a time at least, and agreed that there should\nbe only one religion until they got through, and that was the religion\nof patriotism. They solemnly agreed that the new nation should not\nbelong to any particular church, but that it should secure the rights of\nall.\n\nOur fathers founded the first secular government that was ever founded\nin this world. Recollect that. The first secular government; the first\ngovernment that said every church has exactly the same rights and no\nmore; every religion has the same rights, and no more. In other words,\nour fathers were the first men who had the sense, had the genius, to\nknow that no church should be allowed to have a sword; that it should be\nallowed only to exert its moral influence.\n\nYou might as well have a government united by force with Art, or with\nPoetry, or with Oratory, as with Religion. Religion should have the\ninfluence upon mankind that its goodness, that its morality, its\njustice, its charity, its reason, and its argument give it, and no more.\nReligion should have the effect upon mankind that it necessarily has,\nand no more. The religion that has to be supported by law is without\nvalue, not only, but a fraud and curse. The religious argument that has\nto be supported by a musket, is hardly worth making. A prayer that must\nhave a cannon behind it, better never be uttered. Forgiveness ought not\nto go in partnership with shot and shell. Love need not carry knives and\nrevolvers.\n\nSo our fathers said: \"We will form a secular government, and under the\nflag with which we are going to enrich the air, we will allow every man\nto worship God as he thinks best.\" They said: \"Religion is an individual\nthing between each man and his creator, and he can worship as he pleases\nand as he desires.\" And why did they do this? The history of the world\nwarned them that the liberty of man was not safe in the clutch and grasp\nof any church. They had read of and seen the thumbscrews, the racks, and\nthe dungeons of the Inquisition. They knew all about the hypocrisy of\nthe olden time. They knew that the church had stood side by side with\nthe throne; that the high priests were hypocrites, and that the kings\nwere robbers. They also knew that if they gave power to any church, it\nwould corrupt the best church in the world. And so they said that power\nmust not reside in a church, or in a sect, but power must be wherever\nhumanity is—in the great body of the people. And the officers and\nservants of the people must be responsible to them. And so I say again,\nas I said in the commencement, this is the wisest, the pro-foundest, the\nbravest political document that ever was written and signed by man.\n\nThey turned, as I tell you, everything squarely about. They derived\nall their authority from the people. They did away forever with the\ntheological idea of government.\n\nAnd what more did they say? They said that whenever the rulers abused\nthis authority, this power, incapable of destruction, returned to the\npeople. How did they come to say this? I will tell you. They were pushed\ninto it. How? They felt that they were oppressed; and whenever a man\nfeels that he is the subject of injustice, his perception of right and\nwrong is wonderfully quickened.\n\nNobody was ever in prison wrongfully who did not believe in the writ\nof habeas corpus. Nobody ever suffered wrongfully without instantly\nhaving ideas of justice.\n\nAnd they began to inquire what rights the king of Great Britain had.\nThey began to search for the charter of his authority. They began to\ninvestigate and dig down to the bed-rock upon which society must be\nfounded, and when they got down there, forced there, too, by their\noppressors, forced against their own prejudices and education, they\nfound at' the bottom of things, not lords, not nobles, not pulpits, not\nthrones, but humanity and the rights of men.\n\nAnd so they said, We are men; we are men. They found out they were men.\nAnd the next thing they said, was, \"We will be free men; we are weary of\nbeing colonists; we are tired of being subjects; we are men; and these\ncolonies ought to be states; and these states ought to be a nation; and\nthat nation ought to drive the last British soldier into the sea.\" And\nso they signed that brave Declaration of Independence.\n\nI thank every one of them from the bottom of my heart for signing\nthat sublime declaration. I thank them for their courage—for their\npatriotism—for their wisdom—for the splendid confidence in themselves\nand in the human race. I thank them for what they were, and for what\nwe are—for what they did, and for what we have received—for what they\nsuffered, and for what we enjoy.\n\nWhat would we have been if we had remained colonists and subjects? What\nwould we have been to-day? Nobodies—ready to get down on our knees and\ncrawl in the very dust at the sight of somebody that was supposed to\nhave in him some drop of blood that flowed in the veins of that mailed\nmarauder—that royal robber, William the Conqueror.\n\nThey signed that Declaration of Independence, although they knew that it\nwould produce a long, terrible, and bloody war. They looked forward and\nsaw poverty, deprivation, gloom, and death. But they also saw, on the\nwrecked clouds of war, the beautiful bow of freedom.\n\nThese grand men were enthusiasts; and the world has been raised only\nby enthusiasts. In every country there have been a few who have given\na national aspiration to the people. The enthusiasts of 1776 were the\nbuilders and framers of this great and splendid Government; and they\nwere the men who saw, although others did not, the golden fringe of\nthe mantle of glory that will finally cover this world. They knew, they\nfelt, they believed that they would give a new constellation to\nthe political heavens—that they would make the Americans a grand\npeople—grand as the continent upon which they lived.\n\nThe war commenced. There was little money, and less credit. The new\nnation had but few friends. To a great extent each soldier of freedom\nhad to clothe and feed himself. He was poor and pure, brave and good,\nand so he went to the fields of death to fight for the rights of man.\n\nWhat did the soldier leave when he went?\n\nHe left his wife and children.\n\nDid he leave them in a beautiful home, surrounded by civilization, in\nthe repose of law, in the security of a great and powerful republic?\n\nNo. He left his wife and children on the edge, on the fringe of the\nboundless forest, in which crouched and crept the red savage, who was at\nthat time the ally of the still more savage Briton. He left his wife to\ndefend herself, and he left the prattling babes to be defended by their\nmother and by nature. The mother made the living; she planted the corn\nand the potatoes, and hoed them in the sun, raised the children, and,\nin the darkness of night, told them about their brave father and the\n\"sacred cause.\" She told them that in a little while the war would be\nover and father would come back covered with honor and glory.\n\nThink of the women, of the sweet children who listened for the footsteps\nof the dead—who waited through the sad and desolate years for the dear\nones who never came.\n\nThe soldiers of 1776 did not march away with music and banners. They\nwent in silence, looked at and gazed after by eyes filled with tears.\nThey went to meet, not an equal, but a superior—to fight five times\ntheir number—to make a desperate stand to stop the advance of the\nenemy, and then, when their ammunition gave out, seek the protection of\nrocks, of rivers, and of hills.\n\nLet me say here: The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear\ndefeat without losing heart. That army is the bravest that can be\nwhipped the greatest number of times and fight again.\n\nOver the entire territory, so to speak, then settled by our forefathers,\nthey were driven again and again. Now and then they would meet the\nEnglish with something like equal numbers, and then the eagle of victory\nwould proudly perch upon the stripes and stars. And so they went on as\nbest they could, hoping and fighting until they came to the dark and\nsomber gloom of Valley Forge.\n\nThere were very few hearts then beneath that flag that did not begin to\nthink that the struggle was useless; that all the blood and treasure had\nbeen shed and spent in vain. But there were some men gifted with\nthat wonderful prophecy that fulfills itself, and with that wonderful\nmagnetic power that makes heroes of everybody they come in contact with.\n\nAnd so our fathers went through the gloom of that terrible time, and\nstill fought on. Brave men wrote grand words, cheering the despondent;\nbrave men did brave deeds, the rich man gave his wealth, the poor man\ngave his life, until at last, by the victory of Yorktown, the old banner\nwon its place in the air, and became glorious forever.\n\nSeven long years of war—fighting for what? For the principle that\nall men are created equal—a truth that nobody ever disputed except a\nscoundrel; nobody, nobody in the entire history of this world. No man\never denied that truth who was not a rascal, and at heart a thief;\nnever, never, and never will. What else were they fighting for? Simply\nthat in America every man should have a right to life, liberty, and the\npursuit of happiness. Nobody ever denied that except a villain; never,\nnever. It has been denied by kings—they were thieves. It has been\ndenied by statesmen—they were liars. It has been denied by priests, by\nclergymen, by cardinals, by bishops, and by popes—they were hypocrites.\n\nWhat else were they fighting for? For the idea that all political power\nis vested in the great body of the people. The great body of the people\nmake all the money; do all the work. They plow the land, cut down the\nforests; they produce everything that is produced. Then who shall say\nwhat shall be done with what is produced except the producer?\n\nIs it the non-producing thief, sitting on a throne, surrounded by\nvermin?\n\nThose were the things they were fighting for; and that is all they\nwere fighting for. They fought to build up a new, a great nation; to\nestablish an asylum for the oppressed of the world everywhere. They knew\nthe history of this world. They knew the history of human slavery.\n\nThe history of civilization is the history of the slow and painful\nenfranchisement of the human race. In the olden times the family was a\nmonarchy, the father being the monarch. The mother and children were the\nveriest slaves. The will of the father was the supreme law. He had the\npower of life and death. It took thousands of years to civilize this\nfather, thousands of years to make the condition of wife and mother and\nchild even tolerable. A few families constituted a tribe; the tribe\nhad a chief; the chief was a tyrant; a few tribes formed a nation; the\nnation was governed by a king, who was also a tyrant. A strong nation\nrobbed, plundered, and took captive the weaker ones. This was the\ncommencement of human slavery.\n\nIt is not possible for the human imagination to conceive of the horrors\nof slavery. It has left no possible crime uncommitted, no possible\ncruelty unperpetrated. It has been practiced and defended by all nations\nin some form. It has been upheld by all religions. It has been defended\nby nearly every pulpit. From the profits derived from the slave trade\nchurches have been built, cathedrals reared and priests paid. Slavery\nhas been blessed by bishop, by cardinal, and by pope. It has received\nthe sanction of statesmen, of kings, and of queens. It has been defended\nby the throne, the pulpit and the bench. Monarchs have shared in\nthe profits. Clergymen have taken their part of the spoils, reciting\npassages of Scripture in its defence at the same time, and judges have\ntaken their portion in the name of equity and law.\n\nOnly a few years ago our ancestors were slaves. Only a few years ago\nthey passed with and belonged to the soil, like the coal under it and\nrocks on it.\n\nOnly a few years ago they were treated like beasts of burden, worse far\nthan we treat our animals at the present day. Only a few years ago it\nwas a crime in England for a man to have a Bible in his house, a crime\nfor which men were hanged, and their bodies afterward burned. Only a few\nyears ago fathers could and did sell their children. Only a few\nyears ago our ancestors were not allowed to speak or write their\nthoughts—that being a crime. Only a few years ago to be honest, at\nleast in the expression of your ideas, was a felony. To do right was a\ncapital offence; and in those days chains and whips were the incentives\nto labor, and the preventives of thought. Honesty was a vagrant,\njustice a fugitive, and liberty in chains. Only a few years ago men were\ndenounced because they doubted the inspiration of the Bible—because\nthey denied miracles, and laughed at the wonders recounted by the\nancient Jews.\n\nOnly a few years ago a man had to believe in the total depravity of the\nhuman heart in order to be respectable. Only a few years ago, people\nwho thought God too good to punish in eternal flames an unbaptized child\nwere considered infamous.\n\nAs soon as our ancestors began to get free they began to enslave others.\nWith an inconsistency that defies explanation, they practiced upon\nothers the same outrages that had been perpetrated upon them. As soon\nas white slavery began to be abolished, black slavery commenced. In this\ninfamous traffic nearly every nation of Europe embarked. Fortunes were\nquickly realized; the avarice and cupidity of Europe were excited; all\nideas of justice were discarded; pity fled from the human breast; a\nfew good, brave men recited the horrors of the trade; avarice was deaf;\nreligion refused to hear; the trade went on; the governments of Europe\nupheld it in the name of commerce—in the name of civilization and\nreligion.\n\nOur fathers knew the history of caste. They knew that in the despotisms\nof the Old World it was a disgrace to be useful. They knew that a\nmechanic was esteemed as hardly the equal of a hound, and far below\na blooded horse. They knew that a nobleman held a son of labor in\ncontempt—that he had no rights the royal loafers were bound to respect.\n\nThe world has changed.\n\nThe other day there came shoemakers, potters, workers in wood and iron,\nfrom Europe, and they were received in the city of New York as though\nthey had been princes. They had been sent by the great republic of\nFrance to examine into the arts and manufactures of the great republic\nof America. They looked a thousand times better to me than the Edward\nAlberts and Albert Edwards—the royal vermin, that live on the body\npolitic. And I would think much more of our Government if it would fete\nand feast them, instead of wining and dining the imbeciles of a royal\nline.\n\nOur fathers devoted their lives and fortunes to the grand work of\nfounding a government for the protection of the rights of man. The\ntheological idea as to the source of political power had poisoned the\nweb and woof of every government in the world, and our fathers banished\nit from this continent forever.\n\nWhat we want to-day is what our fathers wrote down. They did not attain\nto their ideal; we approach it nearer, but have not reached it yet. We\nwant, not only the independence of a State, not only the independence of\na nation, but something far more glorious—the absolute independence of\nthe individual. That is what we want. I want it so that I, one of the\nchildren of Nature, can stand on an equality with the rest; that I can\nsay this is my air, my sunshine, my earth, and I have a right to live,\nand hope, and aspire, and labor, and enjoy the fruit of that labor, as\nmuch as any individual or any nation on the face of the globe.\n\nWe want every American to make to-day, on this hundredth anniversary, a\ndeclaration of individual independence. Let each man enjoy his liberty\nto the utmost—enjoy all he can; but be sure it is not at the expense\nof another. The French Convention gave the best definition of liberty\nI have ever read: \"The liberty of one citizen ceases only where the\nliberty of another citizen commences.\" I know of no better definition. I\nask you to-day to make a declaration of individual independence. And\nif you are independent be just. Allow everybody else to make his\ndeclaration of individual independence. Allow your wife, allow your\nhusband, allow your children to make theirs. Let everybody be absolutely\nfree and independent, knowing only the sacred obligations of honesty and\naffection. Let us be independent of party, independent of everybody and\neverything except our own consciences and our own brains. Do not belong\nto any clique. Have the clear title-deeds in fee simple to yourselves,\nwithout any mortgage on the premises to anybody in the world.\n\nIt is a grand thing to be the owner of yourself. It is a grand thing to\nprotect the rights of others. It is a sublime thing to be free and just.\n\nOnly a few days ago I stood in Independence Hall—in that little room\nwhere was signed the immortal paper. A little room, like any other;\nand it did not seem possible that from that room went forth ideas,\nlike cherubim and seraphim, spreading their wings over a continent, and\ntouching, as with holy fire, the hearts of men.\n\nIn a few moments I was in the park, where are gathered the\naccomplishments of a century. Our fathers never dreamed of the things I\nsaw. There were hundreds of locomotives, with their nerves of steel and\nbreath of flame—every kind of machine, with whirling wheels and curious\ncogs and cranks, and the myriad thoughts of men that have been wrought\nin iron, brass and steel. And going out from one little building were\nwires in the air, stretching to every civilized nation, and they could\nsend a shining messenger in a moment to any part of the world, and it\nwould go sweeping under the waves of the sea with thoughts and words\nwithin its glowing heart. I saw all that had been achieved by this\nnation, and I wished that the signers of the Declaration—the soldiers\nof the Revolution—could see what a century of freedom has produced.\nI wished they could see the fields we cultivate—the rivers we\nnavigate—the railroads running over the Alleghanies, far into what was\nthen the unknown forest—on over the broad prairies—on over the vast\nplains—away over the mountains of the West, to the Golden Gate of the\nPacific. All this is the result of a hundred years of freedom.\n\nAre you not more than glad that in 1776 was announced the sublime\nprinciple that political power resides with the people? That our fathers\nthen made up their minds nevermore to be colonists and subjects, but\nthat they would be free and independent citizens of America?\n\nI will not name any of the grand men who fought for liberty. All should\nbe named, or none. I feel that the unknown soldier who was shot down\nwithout even his name being remembered—who was included only in a\nreport of \"a hundred killed,\" or \"a hundred missing,\" nobody knowing\neven the number that attached to his august corpse—is entitled to as\ndeep and heartfelt thanks as the titled leader who fell at the head of\nthe host.\n\nStanding here amid the sacred memories of the first, on the golden\nthreshold of the second, I ask, Will the second century be as grand\nas the first? I believe it will, because we are growing more and more\nhumane. I believe there is more human kindness, more real, sweet human\nsympathy, a greater desire to help one another, in the United States,\nthan in all the world besides.\n\nWe must progress. We are just at the commencement of invention. The\nsteam engine—the telegraph—these are but the toys with which science\nhas been amused. Wait; there will be grander things, there will be wider\nand higher culture—a grander standard of character, of literature and\nart.\n\nWe have now half as many millions of people as we have years, and many\nof us will live until a hundred millions stand beneath the flag. We are\ngetting more real solid sense. The schoolhouse is the finest building in\nthe village. We are writing and reading more books; we are painting\nand buying more pictures; we are struggling more and more to get at\nthe philosophy of life, of things—trying more and more to answer\nthe questions of the eternal Sphinx. We are looking in every\ndirection—investigating; in short, we are thinking and working. Besides\nall this, I believe the people are nearer honest than ever before. A few\nyears ago we were willing to live upon the labor of four million slaves.\nWas that honest? At last, we have a national conscience. At last, we\nhave carried out the Declaration of Independence. Our fathers wrote\nit—we have accomplished it. The black man was a slave—we made him a\ncitizen. We found four million human beings in manacles, and now the\nhands of a race are held up in the free air without a chain.\n\nI have had the supreme pleasure of seeing a man—once a slave—sitting\nin the seat of his former master in the Congress of the United States.\nI have had that pleasure, and when I saw it my eyes were filled\nwith tears. I felt that we had carried, out the Declaration of\nIndependence—that we had given reality to it, and breathed the breath\nof life into its every word. I felt that our flag would float over and\nprotect the colored man and his little children, standing straight in\nthe sun, just the same as though he were white and worth a million.\nI would protect him more, because the rich white man could protect\nhimself.\n\nAll who stand beneath our banner are free. Ours is the only flag that\nhas in reality written upon it: Liberty, Fraternity, Equality—the three\ngrandest words in all the languages of men.\n\nLiberty: Give to every man the fruit of his own labor—the labor of his\nhands and of his brain.\n\nFraternity: Every man in the right is my brother.\n\nEquality: The rights of all are equal: Justice, poised and balanced in\neternal calm, will shake from the golden scales in which are weighed the\nacts of men, the very dust of prejudice and caste: No race, no color, no\nprevious condition, can change the rights of men.\n\nThe Declaration of Independence has at last been carried out in letter\nand in spirit.\n\nThe second century will be grander than the first.\n\nFifty millions of people are celebrating this day. To-day, the black man\nlooks upon his child and says: The avenues to distinction are open to\nyou—upon your brow may fall the civic wreath—this day belongs to you.\n\nWe are celebrating the courage and wisdom of our fathers, and the glad\nshout of a free people the anthem of a grand nation, commencing at the\nAtlantic, is following the sun to the Pacific, across a continent of\nhappy homes.\n\nWe are a great people. Three millions have increased to fifty—thirteen\nStates to thirty-eight. We have better homes, better clothes, better\nfood and more of it, and more of the conveniences of life, than any\nother people upon the globe.\n\nThe farmers of our country live better than did the kings and princes\ntwo hundred years ago—and they have twice as much sense and heart.\nLiberty and labor have given us all. I want every person here to believe\nin the dignity of labor—to know that the respectable man is the useful\nman—the man who produces or helps others to produce something of value,\nwhether thought of the brain or work of the hand.\n\nI want you to go away with an eternal hatred in your breast of\ninjustice, of aristocracy, of caste, of the idea that one man has more\nrights than another because he has better clothes, more land, more\nmoney, because he owns a railroad, or is famous and in high position.\nRemember that all men have equal rights. Remember that the man who acts\nbest his part—who loves his friends the best—is most willing to\nhelp others—truest to the discharge of obligation—who has the best\nheart—the most feeling—the deepest sympathies—and who freely gives\nto others the rights that he claims for himself is the best man. I am\nwilling to swear to this.\n\nWhat has made this country? I say again, liberty and labor. What would\nwe be without labor? I want every farmer when plowing the rustling corn\nof June—while mowing in the perfumed fields—to feel that he is\nadding to the wealth and glory of the United States. I want every\nmechanic—every man of toil, to know and feel that he is keeping the\ncars running, the telegraph wires in the air; that he is making the\nstatues and painting the pictures; that he is writing and printing the\nbooks; that he is helping to fill the world with honor, with happiness,\nwith love and law.\n\nOur country is founded upon the dignity of labor—upon the equality\nof man. Ours is the first real Republic in the history of the world.\nBeneath our flag the people are free. We have retired the gods from\npolitics. We have found that man is the only source of political\npower, and that the governed should govern. We have disfranchised the\naristocrats of the air and have given one country to mankind.\n"
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