New York at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis 1904: Report of the New York State CommissionEllis, DeLancey M.
History
New York at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis 1904: Report of the New York State Commission
Ellis, DeLancey M.
Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904 : Saint Louis, Mo.) -- New York (State)
In the background we see waving palms and dark-skinned men who
gaze with awe upon the white discoverers. In another scene we see the
cold wintry waves surge and dash around the frail craft fighting its way
across dark tempestuous seas from Plymouth, the little bark tossed like
a feather here and there until she lands on that rock-bound coast known
as New England. We see that little colony--Freedom's seed--germinate and
thrive; first the grain, then the tender plant, ever exposed to severe
conditions, then matured into the oak of a giant nation. We see those
brave colonists who have planted the banner of human liberty upon the
inhospitable shores push ever onward, ever extending the fringe of
civilization, struggling against disheartening obstacles, fighting wild
beasts and savage men, but pushing on with indomitable courage. We see
the historical gathering at Philadelphia, resulting in that document
embodying Jefferson's superb crystallization of popular opinion that
'all men are created free and equal and endowed with certain inalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness;' that American magna charta which swept away forever the will
of kings in this land. The people became the rulers and the accident of
birth carried no rank, conferred no privilege. We see the loosely joined
colonies building a nation which contained these elements of greatness
little dreamed of by those hardy pioneers who so generously gave up
their offering of blood on Freedom's altar. The kaleidoscope still
turns. We see those intrepid founders of the school of liberty pushing
their lines ever onward across rivers, deserts, over mountains clad with
eternal snow until the golden shores of California gladden the eye of
our valiant explorers. Then a pause, and over land and sea hang dark
clouds of fratricidal war. Four long years through the valleys and over
the mountains of the Southland surges the red tide of battle. The days
were dark and full of gloom, when lo! the clouds parted and the heavens
again were blue. The nation had been born anew, and on the fair pages of
her history appear no longer the dark stain of human slavery. The strong
arm of enterprise quickly washed away the red stain of war. The word
'America' had a deeper and more sacred meaning than before, and the
nation was re-established on the indestructible foundation of national
unity; the blocks were laid in the cement of fraternal esteem. Still the
picture which we see revolves. Across the waters of the Pacific America
sweeps towards the fulfillment of her world wide destiny. The Stars and
Stripes wave over the palace of the kings in Honolulu. Still again the
nation's sword is unsheathed in the cause of human liberty, and the last
vestige of Spanish power is swept from the new world. The thunder of
Dewey's guns awakens us to the fact that the American banner is planted
into the far Orient, there to stay forever, and under its protecting
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