War became at length inevitable, and the result has shown
that our Government is equal to that, the greatest of trials,
under the most unfavorable circumstances. Of the virtue of the
people and of the heroic exploits of the Army, the Navy, and the
militia I need not speak.
Such, then, is the happy Government under which we live--a
Government adequate to every purpose for which the social compact
is formed; a Government elective in all its branches, under which
every citizen may by his merit obtain the highest trust recognized
by the Constitution; which contains within it no cause of discord,
none to put at variance one portion of the community with another;
a Government which protects every citizen in the full enjoyment of
his rights, and is able to protect the nation against injustice
from foreign powers.
Other considerations of the highest importance admonish us to
cherish our Union and to cling to the Government which supports
it. Fortunate as we are in our political institutions, we have not
been less so in other circumstances on which our prosperity and
happiness essentially depend. Situated within the temperate zone,
and extending through many degrees of latitude along the Atlantic,
the United States enjoy all the varieties of climate, and every
production incident to that portion of the globe.
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