America has suffered in
the opinion of the world. For the foreign view, looking upon us not as a
new people, but as the offshoot of an old and cultivated race, has
conceded to us little more than a certain mechanical ingenuity in
fitting together the parts of an edifice built upon a foundation already
laid for us away back in the ages--a carrying out of plans already
perfected for us, and requiring little of originality for their
development; forgetting that oftentimes the laying of the foundation is
the easiest part of the work, while the erection and embellishment of
the superstructure has taxed the efforts of the loftiest genius. In so
far as regards the development of the national mind, the strengthening
of the originating and energetic faculties, and the capability of
profound and well directed thought arising therefrom, we are, as a race,
deeply indebted to our progenitors of the Old World, and we have reaped
therefrom a great advantage over other nationalities in their inception.
But aside from these benefits, the cultivation of the race before the
settlement of our country has been rather a hamper upon our progress.
For here was to be inaugurated a new civilization, upon a different
basis from and entirely incompatible with that of the Old World; here
was to be established an idea antagonistic to those of the preexisting
world, and evolving a new and more progressive social life, which needed
not only a new sphere and new material, but also entire freedom from the
restraints of the old-time civilization. And it is harder to unlearn an
old lesson than to learn a new. The institutions and modes of thought of
the Old World are to the last degree unfavorable to the progress of such
a nationality as ours. Their tendency being toward the aggrandizement of
the few and the centralization of power, renders them wholly
incompatible with that freedom of thought and action, that opening up of
large fields of exertion as well as of the road to distinction and
eminence, with all their incentives to effort, which are the very life
of a majestic republic stretching over a large portion of the earth's
surface, embracing such mixed nationalities, and founded upon principles
of progress both in its physical and mental relations which have
rendered it in very truth a new experiment among the nations. We had
first to forget the divine right of kings, and the invidious
distinctions of class, with all their deep-seated and time-honored