The American Union Speaker

American Union Speaker , The

Project Gutenberg's The American Union Speaker, by John D.
Philbrick Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to
check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or
redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: The American Union Speaker
Author: John D. Philbrick
Release Date: January, 2005 [EBook #7211] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on March 27,
2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
AMERICAN UNION SPEAKER ***

Produced by W. B. Jenness

ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR
1865, BY
JOHN D. PHILBRICK,
IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE
OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF
MASSACHUSETTS.
RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY
H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.
PREFACE.
The design of this book is twofold,--to meet the present demand for
new selections suited to the spirit of the hour, and also to furnish a
choice collection of standard pieces for elocutionary exercises on which
time has set its lasting seal. In the execution of this design no pains
have been spared in selecting and preparing the best pieces, both new
and old.
The extracts from recent productions, numbering about one hundred, by
more than fifty different authors, are now for the first time presented in
a Speaker. They are for the most part the eloquent utterances of our
best orators and poets, inspired by the present national crisis, and are
therefore "all compact of the passing hour," breathing "the fine sweet
spirit of nationality,--the nationality of America." They give expression
to the emotions excited, the hopes inspired, and the duties imposed by
this stormy and perilous period. They afford brilliant illustrations of the
statesmanship of the crisis. Sumner exposes the origin and mainspring
of the rebellion, Douglass strips off its pretext, Everett paints its crime,
Boutwell boldly proclaims its remedy in emancipation, and Banks
pronounces a benediction on the first act of reconstruction on the solid
basis of freedom to all. They furnish also an epitome of the convict of

arms. Bryant utters the rallying cry to the people, Whittier responds in
the united voice of the North, Holmes sounds the grand charge,
Pierpont gives the command "Forward!" Longfellow and Boker
immortalize the unconquerable heroism of our braves on sea and land,
and Andrew and Beecher speak in tender accents the gratitude of loyal
hearts to our fallen heroes.
These new pieces will for a time receive the preference over old ones,
and some of them will survive the period which called them forth. But
to insure for the work, if possible, a permanent value as a Standard
Speaker for students of common schools, higher seminaries and
colleges, the greater part of the selections, nearly three hundred in
number, have been chosen from those of acknowledged excellence, and
of unquestionable merit as exercises for recitation and declamation.
This department comprises every variety of style necessary in
elocutionary culture.
Another important feature of the collection is the introduction of those
masterpieces of oratory--long excluded from books of this class, though
now rendered appropriate by the new phase of public opinion,which
advocate the inalienable rights of man, and denounce the crime of
human bondage. Aware of the deep and lasting power which pieces
used for declamation exert in moulding the ideas and opinions of the
young, it has been my aim to admit only such productions as inculcate
the noblest and purest sentiments, teaching patriotism, loyalty, and
justice, and bring the youthful heart with ambition to be useful, and
with heroic devotion to duty.
The text of the extracts has been made to conform to that of the most
authentic editions of the works of their authors. Some pieces which
have heretofore been presented in a mutilated form, are here restored to
their original completeness. Where compression or abridgment has
been necessary, it has been executed with caution, and with strict
regard to the sentiments and ideas of the authors. Fully convinced that
elaborate treatises on elocution more appropriately form separate
publications, nothing