A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention: For Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, Held at Washington, D.C., in February, A.D. 1861Chittenden, L. E. (Lucius Eugene)
History
A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention: For Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, Held at Washington, D.C., in February, A.D. 1861
Chittenden, L. E. (Lucius Eugene)
Conference Convention (1861 : Washington, D.C.); United States -- Politics and government -- 1857-1861
Her sister States meet her this day at
the council board. Vermont is here, bringing with her the memories of
the past, and reviving in the memories of all, her Ethan Allen and his
demand for the surrender of Ticonderoga, in the name of the Great
Jehovah and the American Congress. New Hampshire is here, her fame
illustrated by memorable annals, and still more lately as the
birthplace of him who won for himself the name of defender of the
Constitution, and who wrote that letter to John Taylor which has been
enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen. Massachusetts is not here.
(Some member said "She is coming.") I hope so, said Mr. TYLER, and
that she will bring with her her daughter Maine. I did not believe it
could well be that the voice which in other times was so familiar to
her ears had been addressed to her in vain. Connecticut is here, and
she comes, I doubt not, in the spirit of ROGER SHERMAN, whose name
with our very children has become a household word, and who was in
life the embodiment of that sound practical sense which befits the
great lawgiver and constructer of governments. Rhode Island, the land
of ROGER WILLIAMS, is here, one of the two last States, in her
jealousy of the public liberty, to give in her adhesion to the
Constitution, and among the earliest to hasten to its rescue. The
great Empire State of New York, represented thus far but by one
delegate, is expected daily in fuller force to join in the great work
of healing the discontents of the times and restoring the reign of
fraternal feeling. New Jersey is also here, with the memories of the
past covering her all over. Trenton and Princeton live immortal in
story, the plains of the last incrimsoned with the hearts blood of
Virginia's sons. Among her delegation I rejoice to recognize a gallant
son of a signer of the immortal Declaration which announced to the
world that thirteen Provinces had become thirteen independent and
sovereign States. And here, too, is Delaware, the land of the BAYARDS
and the RODNEYS, whose soil at Brandywine was moistened by the blood
of Virginia's youthful MONROE. Here is Maryland, whose massive columns
wheeled into line with those of Virginia in the contest for glory,
and whose state house at Annapolis was the theatre of the spectacle of
a successful Commander, who, after liberating his country, gladly
ungirthed his sword, and laid it down upon the altar of that country.
Then comes Pennsylvania, rich in revolutionary lore, bringing with her
the deathless names of FRANKLIN and MORRIS, and, I trust, ready to
renew from the belfry of Independence Hall the chimes of the old bell,
which announced _Freedom_ and _Independence_ in former days. All hail
to North Carolina! with her Mecklenberg Declaration in her hand,
standing erect on the ground of her own probity and firmness in the
cause of public liberty, and represented in her attributes by her
MACON, and in this assembly by her distinguished son at no great
distance from me.
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