The next conflict that arose was the most vital and important of all our wars, with the exception of that by which we gained our independence. The Constitution of 1787 did not succeed in forming a perfect Union between the States. An element of dissension was left, a "rift within the lute," then seemingly small and unimportant, but destined to grow to dangerous proportions. This was the slavery question, disposed of in the Constitution by a compromise, which, like every compromise with evil, failed in its purpose. The question continued to exist. It grew threatening, portentous, and finally overshadowed the whole political domain. Every effort to settle it peacefully only added to the strain; the union between the States weakened as this mighty hammer of discord struck down their combining links; finally the bonds yielded, the slavery question thrust itself like a great wedge between, and a mighty struggle began to decide whether the Union should stand or fall. With the events of this struggle we are not here concerned. They are told at length in their special place. All that we shall here say is this: While the war was fought for the preservation of the Union, it was clearly perceived that this union could never be stable while the disorganizing element remained, and the war led inevitably to the abolition of slavery, the apple of discord which had been thrown between the States. The greatness of the result was adequate to the greatness of the conflict. With the end of the Civil War, for the first time in their history, an actual and stable Union was established between the States. We have one more war to record, the brief but important struggle of 1898, entered into by the United States under the double impulse of indignation against the barbarous destruction of the _Maine_ and of sympathy for the starving and oppressed people of Cuba. It yielded results undreamed of in its origin. Not only was Cuba wrested from the feeble and inhuman hands of Spain, but new possessions in the oceans of the east and west were added to the United States, and for the first time this country took its predestined place among the nations engaged in shaping the destiny of the world, rose to imperial dignity in the estimation of the rulers of Europe, and fairly won that title of the GREATER REPUBLIC which this work is written to commemorate.