Have Faith in Massachusetts; 2d ed. | Page 8

of the people has not yet marked a century
and a half. There is no absolute proof, no positive guaranty, but there is
hope and high expectation, and the path is not uncharted.
It may be some help to know that, however much of glory, there is no
magic in American democracy. Let us examine some more of this
Declaration of ours, and examine it in the light of the events of those
solemn days in which it was adopted.
Men of every clime have lavished much admiration upon the first part
of the Declaration of Independence, and rightly so, for it marked the
entry of new forces and new ideals into human affairs. Its admirers
have sometimes failed in their attempts to live by it, but none have

successfully disputed its truth. It is the realization of the true glory and
worth of man, which, when once admitted, wrought vast changes that
have marked all history since its day. All this relates to natural rights,
fascinating to dwell upon, but not sufficient to live by. The signers
knew that well; more important still, the people whom they represented
knew it. So they did not stop there. After asserting that man was to
stand out in the universe with a new and supreme importance, and that
governments were instituted to insure life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness, they did not shrink from the logical conclusion of this
doctrine. They knew that the duty between the citizen and the State was
reciprocal. They knew that the State called on its citizens for their
property and their lives; they laid down the proposition that
government was to protect the citizen in his life, liberty, and pursuit of
happiness. At some expense? Yes. Those prudent and thrifty men had
no false notions about incurring expense. They knew the value of
increasing their material resources, but they knew that prosperity was a
means, not an end. At cost of life? Yes. These sons of the Puritans, of
the Huguenots, of the men of Londonderry, braved exile to secure
peace, but they were not afraid to die in defence of their convictions.
They put no limit on what the State must do for the citizen in his hour
of need. While they required all, they gave all. Let us read their
conclusion in their own words, and mark its simplicity and majesty:
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." There is no cringing
reservation here, no alternative, and no delay. Here is the voice of the
plain men of Middlesex, promising Yorktown, promising Appomattox.
The doctrine of the Declaration of Independence, predicated upon the
glory of man, and the corresponding duty of society, is that the rights of
citizens are to be protected with every power and resource of the State,
and a government that does any less is false to the teachings of that
great document, of the name American. Beyond this, the principle that
it is the obligation of the people to rise and overthrow government
which fails in these respects. But above all, the call to duty, the pledge
of fortune and of life, nobility of character through nobility of action:
this is Americanism.
"Woe for us if we forget, we that hold by these."

Herein are the teachings of this day--touching the heights of man's
glory and the depths of man's duty. Here lies the path to national
preservation, and there is no other. Education, the progress of science,
commercial prosperity, yes, and peace, all these and their
accompanying blessings are worthy and commendable objects of
attainment. But these are not the end, whether these come or no; the
end lies in action--action in accord with the eternal principles of the
Declaration of Independence; the words of the Continental Congress,
but the deeds of the Army of the Revolution.
This is the meaning of America. And it is all our own. Doctrinaires and
visionaries may shudder at it. The privilege of birth may jeer at it. The
practical politician may scoff at it. But the people of the Nation respond
to it, and march away to Mexico to the rescue of a colored trooper as
they marched of old to the rescue of an emperor. The assertion of
human rights is naught but a call to human sacrifice. This is yet the
spirit of the American people. Only so long as this flame burns shall we
endure and the light of liberty be shed over the nations of the earth.
May the increase of the years increase for America only the devotion to
this spirit, only the intensity of this flame, and the eternal truth of
Lowell's lines: