The government has once flourished under the guidance of trusty servants; and the Hon. Mr. [James] Monroe in his day, while speaking of the Constitution; says, “Our commerce has been wisely regulated with foreign nations, and between the states; new states have been admitted into our ; our territory has been enlarged by fair and honorable treaty, and with great advantages to the original states; the states respectively protected by the national government, under a mild paternal system against foreign dangers, and enjoying within their separate spheres, by a wise patrition of power, a just proportion of the sovereignty, have improved their police, extended their settlements, and attained a strength and maturity which are the best proofs of wholesome law well administered. And if we look to the condition of individuals, what a proud spectacle does it exhibit? who has been deprived of any right of person and property? who restrained from offering his vows in the mode he prefers, to the Divine author of his being? It is well known that all these blessings have been enjoyed to their fullest extent: and I add, with peculiar satisfaction, that there has been no example of a capital punishment being inflicted on any one for the crime of high treason.” What a delightful picture of power, policy and prosperity! Truly the wise proverb is just: “Sedaukauh teromain goy, veh-ka-sade le-u-meem khahmaut.” Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

But this is not all. The same honorable statesman, after having had about forty years experience in the government, under the full tide of successful experiment, gives the following commendatory assurance of the efficiency of the magna charta to answer its great end and aim: To protect the people in their rights. “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 or 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 against injusice from foreign powers.”

Again, the younger in the silver age of our ’s advancement to fame, in his inaugural address, (1825) thus candidly declares the majesty of the youthful , in its increasing greatness; “The year of jubilee since the first formation of our has just elapsed—that of the declaration of Independence is at hand. The consummation of both was effected by this constitution. Since that period a population of four millions has multiplied to twelve. A territory, bounded by the , has been extended from sea to sea. New states have been admitted to the , in numbers nearly equal to those of the first confederation. Treaties of peace, amity and commerce, have been concluded with the principal dominions of the earth. The people of other nations, the inhabitants of regions acquired, not by conquest, but by compact, have been united with us in the participation of our rights and duties, of our burdens and blessings. The forest has fallen by the axe of our woodsmen; the soil has been made to teem by the tillage of our farmers: our commerce has whitened every ocean. The dominion of man over physical nature has been extended by the invention of our artists. Liberty and law have walked hand in hand. All the purposes of human association have been accomplished as effectively as under any other government on the globe, and at a cost little exceeding, in a whole generation, the expenditures of other nations in a single year.”

In continuation of such noble sentiments, General [Andrew] Jackson, upon his ascension to the great chair of the chief magistracy; said, “As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and property, liberty of conscience, and of the press, it will be worth defending; and so long as it is worth defending, a patriotic militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis.”

General Jackson’s administration may be denomiated the acme of American glory, liberty and prosperity, for the national debt, which in 1815, on account of the late war, was $125,000,000, and lessened gradually, was paid up in his golden day; and preparations were made to distribute the surplus revenue among the several states: and that august patriot, to use his [p. 530]