Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
Farewell, dear England! farewell, the Church of God in England, and all the Christian friends there!—We go to practise the positive part of church reformation, and propagate the gospel in America.
My Fathers and Brethren, this is never to be forgotten, that New-England is originally a plantation of Religion, not a plantation of Trade. Let Merchants and such as are increasing Cent per Cent remember this. Let others that have come over since at several times understand this, that worldly gain was not the end and design of the people of New-England, but Religion. And if any amongst us make Religion as twelve, and the world as thirteen, let such an one know he hath neither the spirit of a true New-England man, nor yet of a sincere Christian.—From an Election Sermon, “The Cause of God and his People in New-England.” Cambridge, Mass., 27 May, 1663.
We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers, to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere, as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing Colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling, in any other manner their destiny, by any European power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.—From the President’s Message, 2 December, 1823. I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men…. In receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided to my illustrious predecessor, and which he has discharged so faithfully and well, I know that I cannot expect to perform the arduous task with equal ability and success.—Inaugural Address, 4 March, 1837. It would be superfluous in me to point out to your Lordship that this is war. Written When Asked for an Autograph, July, 1881. I have considered the pension list of the Republic a roll of honor.—Veto of Mary Ann Dougherty’s Pension, 5 July, 1888.
From “The Liberty Song”: first published in the Boston “Gazette,” 18 July, 1768.
Arthur Lee. 1740–92.
Both Regiments, or None!
I am not a Virginian, but an American.
We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my Country.
We must consult Brother Jonathan.—Meaning his secretary and aide, Colonel Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut.
To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.—From a Speech to Congress, 8 January, 1790.
I consider biennial elections as a security that the sober, second thought of the people shall be law.
That honor ought neither to be solicited nor refused.
If a due participation of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be obtained? Those by Death are few: by resignation, none.—To a Committee of the Merchants of New Haven, Conn., 1801.
Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.—First Inaugural Address, 4 March, 1801.
Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.
But I am in hopes of the Eastern people;… that they will find their interest in acquiescing in the liberty and science of their country, and that the Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of its benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind.—Written in 1801.
Such are the fragments remaining to us to show a master-workman, and that his system of morality was the most benevolent and sublime probably that has ever been taught, and consequently more perfect than those of any of the ancient philosophy.—Written in 1804.
The sun is my father, and the earth is my mother; and on her bosom I will repose.—At the conference with General W. H. Harrison, Vincennes, Ind., August, 1810.
Don’t give up the Ship!—Engagement between the Shannon and the Chesapeake, 1 June, 1813.
The Era of Good Feeling.—Title of an Article in the Boston “Centinel,” 12 July, 1817.
In the wars of the European Powers, in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparations for our defence. With the movements in this hemisphere we are, of necessity, more immediately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political system of the Allied Powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective Governments; and to the defence of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted.
Law is whatever is boldly asserted and plausibly maintained.
The rule of my life is to make business a pleasure, and pleasure my business.
Be sure you are right—then go ahead.
Let our object be, our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country.
I was defeated—by the coalition of Blifil and Black George,—by the combination, unheard of till then, of the Puritan with the blackleg.
That is a good enough Morgan for us until you bring back the one you carried off.—Reply to the Counsel for the Kidnappers of Morgan, with reference to the body of one Timothy Monroe. 1827.
If we fail, let us fail like men, lash ourselves to our gallant tars, and expire together in one common struggle, fighting for Free Trade and Seaman’s Rights.—Speech in the U. S. H. of R., 19 January, 1813.
Sir, I had rather be right than be President!
I have heard something said about allegiance to the South. I know no South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe any allegiance.—In the U. S. Senate, 1848.
I am a man, and you are another.—To President Jackson, at their first interview, April, 1833.
I shall, if honored with the choice of the American people, endeavor to tread generally in the footsteps of President Jackson.—Letter accepting the Nomination for the Presidency, 29 May, 1835.
A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various and powerful interests, combined in one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks.—Speech in the U. S. Senate, 27 May, 1836.
Byron’s European fame is the best earnest of his immortality, for a foreign nation is a kind of contemporaneous posterity.—From the Novel “Stanley; or, The Recollections of a Man of the World.” Phila., 1838.
This new page opened in the book of our public expenditures, and this new departure taken, which leads into the bottomless gulf of civil pensions and family gratuities.—In the U. S. Senate, against the grant of $25,000 to President Harrison’s widow, April, 1841.
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Fifty-four forty, or fight! (54° 40′ N.).
A little more grape, Captain Bragg!
General Taylor never surrenders.—Reply to General Santa Anna, Buena Vista, 22 February, 1847.
No more slave States: no slave Territories.
I never use the word “Nation” in speaking of the United States; I always use the word “Union,” or Confederacy. We are not a nation, but a Union, a confederacy of equal and sovereign States. England is a nation, Austria is a nation, Russia is a nation, but the United States are not a nation.—Remark to Oliver Dyer, 1 January. 1849.
I shall defer my visit to Faneuil Hall, the cradle of American Liberty, until its doors shall fly open on golden hinges to lovers of Union as well as of Liberty.—Upon being refused the use of Faneuil Hall, March, 1850.
A Card, when attacked for refusing to sign the call for a “Union Saving” Meeting held in Castle Garden, October, 1850.
A C
Theodore McNamee. 1803–71.
“Give ’em Jessie!”
Free soil, free men, free speech, Frémont!
—So far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.
Blood is thicker than water!—Justifying assistance to the British fleet in the Pei-ho. Despatch to the U. S. Secretary of the Navy, June, 1859.
With you I hate, deplore, and denounce the Barbarism of Slavery…. But I do not agree that the National Government has power under the Constitution to touch Slavery in the States, any more than it has power to touch the twin Barbarism of Polygamy in the States, while fully endowed to arrest and suppress both in all the Territories.—Letter to A. P. Brooks, 9 September, 1860.—See also his speech on the Barbarism of Slavery, U. S. Senate, 4 June, 1860.
My dear Sir, take any road; you can’t go amiss; the whole State is one vast insane asylum!
All we ask is to be let alone.—First Message to the Confederate Congress, March, 1861.
Say to the seceded States—Wayward sisters, depart in peace!
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Whether right or wrong in its domestic or its foreign policy, judged by whatever standard, whether of expediency or of principle, the American citizen can recognize no social duty intervening between himself and his country. He may urge reform; but he has no right to destroy. Intrusted with the precious inheritance of Liberty, endowed with the gift of participation in a Popular Government, the Constitution makes him at once the beneficiary and the defender of interests and institutions he cannot innocently endanger; and when he becomes a traitor to his country, he commits equal treason against mankind.—Address to the Mass. Legislature, 3 January, 1862.
Well, General, we have not had many dead cavalrymen lying about lately! [Often misquoted in the phrase “Who ever saw a dead cavalryman?”]
Despatch to Earl Russell, against permitting the Confederate Ironclads, then building at Laird’s Shipyards, at Birkenhead, to depart from Liverpool, 5 September, 1863.
Hold the fort. I am coming.
The Total Depravity of Inanimate Things.
From a Letter to Robert Morris, 30 April, 1781.
A National debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.
Title of a Broadside issued by Jay Cooke, June, 1865, to promote the sale of Government Bonds. It was qualified, at the suggestion of Harris Charles Fahnestock (upon the cover of a pamphlet containing the banker’s argument), in this wise: “How our National Debt may be a National Blessing.” The originator of the title was
We are swinging around the Circle.
Stick.
Repudiate the Repudiators.
As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it? Say!
Let no guilty man escape, if it can be avoided. No personal consideration should stand in the way of performing a public duty.—Indorsement of a Letter Relating to the Prosecution of the Western “Whiskey Ring,” 29 July, 1875.
Listen! John A. Logan is the Head Centre, the Hub, the King Pin, the Main Spring, Mogul, and Mugwump of the final plot by which partisanship was installed in the Commission.—Editorial entitled “Impeach Logan,” in the N. Y. “Tribune,” 16 February, 1877.
“Mugwump D. O. Bradley.”
The word was applied by the same newspaper, 15 June, 1884, to the “Independents” of the Blaine-Cleveland campaign.
A Mugwump is a person educated beyond his intellect.
The President … should strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves the country best.
What are we here for?
It has been said that unsettled questions have no pity for the repose of nations. It should be said that this question of the suffrage will never give repose to the States or to the Nation until each, within its own jurisdiction, makes and keeps the ballot free and pure by the strong sanction of the law.
“James A. Garfield. Strangulatus pro republica.”
The truth is, that Mr. James’s cosmopolitanism is, after all, limited: to be really cosmopolitan, a man must be at home even in his own country.—Short Studies of American Authors. 1879.
Whatever question there may be of his talent, there can be none, I think, of his genius. It was a slim and crooked one, but it was eminently personal. He was imperfect, unfinished, inartistic; he was worse than provincial—he was parochial; it is only at his best that he is readable.—Of Thoreau, in a Critical Life of Hawthorne. 1879.
The art of fiction has, in fact, become a finer art in our day than it was with Dickens and Thackeray. We could not suffer the confidential attitude of the latter now, nor the mannerism of the former, any more than we could endure the prolixity of Richardson or the coarseness of Fielding.—Sketch of Henry James, Jr., in the “Century Magazine,” November, 1882.
Reason is the triumph of the intellect, faith of the heart; and whether the one or the other shall best illumine the dark mysteries of our being, they only are to be despaired of who care not to explore.—History of the United States under the Constitution, Vol. II. 1882.
From a Speech at Ashland, Ky., March, 1829.
Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.
The appointing power of the pope is treated as a public trust and not as a personal perquisite.
The public offices are a public trust, to be held and administered with the same exact justice and the same conscientious regard for the responsibilities involved as are required in the execution of private trusts.
Public office is a public trust, created only for the common benefit.
Public officials are the trustees of the people.
Public officers are the servants and agents of the people to execute laws which the people have made, and within the limits of a constitution which they have established.
But what man is fit to hold office? Only he who regards political office as a public trust, and not as a private perquisite to be used for the pecuniary advantage of himself or his family, or even his party.
Public office is a public trust.
A public office is a public trust. The incumbent has a property right in it, but the office is conferred, not for his benefit, but for the benefit of the political society.
Offices are public trusts. Although the incumbent of a public office has a property right in it, yet the office itself is a public trust and is conferred, not for his benefit, but the for benefit of the political society.
Your every voter, as surely as your Chief Magistrate, under the same high sanction, though in a different sphere, exercises a public trust.
“Honor Lies in Honest Toil.”
A true American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil.—Letter accepting the nomination for President, 18 August, 1884.
They have proved themselves offensive partisans, and unscrupulous manipulators of local party management.—Letter to George William Curtis, 25 December, 1884.
We should also deal with the subject in such manner as to protect the interests of American labor, which is the capital of our workingmen.—First Annual Message, December, 1885.
After an existence of nearly twenty years of almost innocuous desuetude these laws are brought forth.—Message, 1 March, 1886.
Though the people support the Government, the Government should not support the people.—Veto of Texas Seed-Bill, 16 February, 1887.
It is a condition which confronts us—not a theory.—Annual Message, 1887.
I cannot believe that the vast peaceful army of Union soldiers who, having contentedly resumed their places in the ordinary avocations of life, cherish as sacred the memory of patriotic service, or who, having been disabled by the casualties of war, justly regard the present pension roll, on which appear their names as a roll of honor, desire at this time and in the present exigency to be confounded with those who, through such a bill as this, are willing to be objects of charity and to gain a place upon the pension roll through alleged dependence.—Veto of Dependent Pension Bill, 11 February, 1887.
Communism is a hateful thing and a menace to peace and organized government. But the communism of combined wealth and capital, the outgrowth of overweening cupidity and selfishness which assiduously undermines the justice and integrity of free institutions, is not less dangerous than the communism of oppressed poverty and toil, which, exasperated by injustice and discontent, attacks with wild disorder the citadel of misrule.—Annual Message, 1888.
Party honesty is party expediency.—Interview in the N. Y. “Commercial Advertiser,” 19 September, 1889.
They love him, gentlemen, and they respect him, not only for himself, for his character, for his integrity and judgment and iron will, but they love him most for the enemies he has made.—Of Mr. Cleveland, by the Chairman of the National Convention, Chicago, 1884.
Unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation.
We are Republicans, and don’t propose to leave our party and identify ourselves with the party whose antecedents have been Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion!
If I were asked what book is better than a cheap book, I should answer that there is one book better than a cheap book, and that is a book honestly come by.
Here comes another of the Spell-binders!
To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old.—On the seventieth Birthday of Julia Ward Howe, 27 May, 1889.
From the Bishop’s Address at the Washington Centennial Service in St. Paul’s Chapel, New York City, 30 April, 1889.
The conception of the National Government as a huge machine, existing mainly for the purpose of rewarding partisan service—this was a conception so alien to the character and conduct of Washington and his associates that it seems grotesque even to speak of it. It would be interesting to imagine the first President of the United States confronted with some one who had ventured to approach him upon the basis of what is now commonly called “practical politics.”
We have exchanged the Washingtonian dignity for the Jeffersonian simplicity, which was, in truth, only another name for the Jacksonian vulgarity.—Same Address.
If there be no nobility of descent, all the more indispensable is it that there should be nobility of ascent—a character in them that bear rule, so fine and high and pure, that as men come within the circle of its influence they involuntarily pay homage to that which is the one preëminent distinction, the Royalty of Virtue.—From the Same.
Self-seeking has no public observance or anniversary. The captain who gives to the sea his cargo of rags, that he may give safety and deliverance to his imperilled fellow-men, has fame; he who lands the cargo has only wages.
It is not in the power of any people upon earth much to harm us, except our own people.
When the Judges shall be obliged to go armed, it will be time for the Courts to be closed.
It used to be an applauded political maxim, which was expressed in the words, “Measures, not men.” I venture to deny the soundness of this maxim, and to propose in its place its converse, “Men, not measures.” I think the first need of good government, like the first need of a large business corporation, is the right men to administer it. Right in character, in ability, in patriotism, in disinterestedness…. Better a hundred times an honest and capable administration of an erroneous policy than a corrupt and incapable administration of a good one.—At the Dinner of the N. Y. Chamber of Commerce, 19 November, 1889.
Adams, John—“Colossus of Independence.” Adams, John Quincy—“Old Man Eloquent.” Adams, Samuel—“American Cato.” Arnold, Benedict—“The Traitor.” Benton, Thomas—“Old Bullion.” Blaine, James Gillespie—“Plumed Knight.” Bradstreet, Anne—“The Tenth Muse.” Brown, John—“Osawatomie Brown.” Buchanan, James—“Bachelor President,” “Old Public Functionary,” “Sage of Wheatland.” Burritt, Elihu—“The Learned Blacksmith.” Clay, Henry—“Harry of the West,” “Mill-Boy of the Slashes.” Corwin, Thomas—“Wagoner-Boy.” Cox, Samuel Sullivan—“Sunset Cox.” Dana, Charles Anderson—“Nestor of the Press.” Douglas, Stephen Arnold—“Little Giant.” Early, Jubal—“Bad Old Man.” Eliot, John—“Apostle of the Indians.” Ewing, Thomas—“The Salt-Boiler.” Frémont, John Charles—“Pathfinder.” Garfield, James Abram—“Canal-Boy.” Grant, Ulysses S.—“The Tanner,” “Uncle Sam,” “Unconditional Surrender.” Halleck, Henry Wager—“Old Brains.” Halstead, Murat—“Field-Marshal.” Hancock, Winfield Scott—“The Superb.” Harrison, Benjamin—“Little Ben.” Harrison, William Henry—“Cincinnatus of the West,” “Tippecanoe.” Holmes, Oliver Wendell—“The Autocrat.” Hooker, Joseph—“Fighting Joe.” Jackson, Andrew—“Old Hickory.” Jackson, Thomas Jonathan—“Stonewall.” Jefferson, Thomas—“Sage of Monticello.” Kelley, William Darrah—“Father of the House,” “Pig-Iron Kelley.” Lee, Henry (1756)—“Light-Horse Harry.” Lincoln, Abraham—“Father Abraham,” “Honest Old Abe,” “The Railsplitter,” “The Martyr President.” Logan, John Alexander—“Black Eagle,” “Blackjack.” Loring, William Wing—“Old Blizzard.” Marion, Francis—“Swamp-Fox.” Marshall, John—“Expounder of the Constitution.” McClellan, George Brinton—“Little Mac.” Medary, Samuel—“War-Horse of Democracy.” Mitchel, Ormsby MacKnight—“Old Stars.” Polk, James Knox—“Young Hickory.” Phillips, Wendell—“Silver-tongued.” Putnam, Israel—“Old Put.” Riley, James Whitcomb—“Hoosier Poet.” Scott, Winfield—“Hero of Chapultepec,” “Old Fuss and Feathers.” Seward, William Henry—“Sage of Auburn.” Sheridan, Philip—“Little Phil.” Sherman, William Tecumseh—“Old Tecumseh.” Smith, William Farrar—“Baldy Smith.” Spinner, Francis Elias—“Watch-Dog of the Treasury.” Steedman, James Barrett—“Old Chickamauga.” Stevens, Thaddeus—“Great Commoner.” Taylor, Zachary—“Old Rough and Ready,” “Old Zach.” Thomas, Charles—“Old Reliable,” “Pop Thomas.” Thoreau, Henry David—“Poet Naturalist.” Thurman, Allen Granbery—“Old Bandanna,” “Old Roman.” Tilden, Samuel Jones—“Sage of Greystone.” Van Buren, Martin—“Little Magician,” “Little Van,” “Northern Man with Southern Principles.” Washington, George—“American Fabius,” “Father of his Country.” Wayne, Anthony—“Mad Anthony.” Webster, Daniel—“Black Dan,” “Expounder of the Constitution.” Webster, Noah—“Schoolmaster of the Republic.” Whitman, Walt—“The Good Grey Poet.” Whittier, John Greenleaf—“Bard of Amesbury,” “Quaker Poet.” Wilson, Henry—“Natick Cobbler.”