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 In the Jj^ves of some Qreat Americans 
 
 ff 
 
 OR 
 
 MAKING GOOD THE DECLARATION 
 OF INDEPENDENCE 
 
 L. W. Baxter 
 
itfx 
 
In the Lives of some Great Americans 
 
 OR 
 
 Making Good the Declaration 
 of Independence 
 
 By LAURENCE W. ^AXTER 
 
 \; ^ 
 
 of the Philadelphia Bar 
 
 Philadelphia: 
 INNES & SONS 
 
 I29-IJ5 N. Twelfth St. 
 1922 
 
EI/76 
 .Bss 
 
 Copyright, 1922, by L. W. BAXTER 
 
 JAN --5 '23 
 
 C1A605061 
 
Sto tttQ Wife mh (Eljtl&rett 
 
 THIS LITTLE BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 
 BY THE AUTHOR 
 
Jtttruiurtwtt 
 
 "Psychological Moments^^ is a pure 
 labor of love. It is the product of some 
 odd moments agreeably employed in the 
 pursuit of happiness and mental diversion 
 while passing a vacation at the farm, 
 amid the joys of summer and the multiple 
 beauties of nature, all contributing to a 
 state of mind in harmony with the 
 thoughts and purpose of the writer. 
 
 The phrase "psychological moment," it 
 will be observed, has been used at times 
 as the exact equivalent of "spiritual 
 vision," and the writer claims no in- 
 fallible judgment in the technically cor- 
 rect use of either. They are employed 
 simply as the best or the most appro- 
 priate phrases to describe or to account 
 for those exceptionally brilliant acts or 
 deeds in the lives of some great Ameri- 
 cans, as set forth in the following pages, 
 and the writer trusts that they will be so 
 accepted and understood by the reader. 
 
8 Great Americans 
 
 The writer had long entertained the 
 idea that a work of this kind, if kept 
 within proper limits and avoiding super- 
 fluous detail, might not be unacceptable 
 to the general reader, as a sort of artificial 
 memory of the greatest, at least of some 
 of the greatest, events in American his- 
 tory. But the selections of those events 
 from the lives of the illustrious dead were 
 not always easily made. When a man's 
 life is so replete with ennobling and ex- 
 ceptional labors, as was Benjamin 
 Franklin's for example, to say which was 
 the best, the brightest, the most important 
 and enduring, the one which might, with- 
 out impropriety, be ascribed to some 
 "psychological moment," one's judgment 
 wavers, and however carefully he tries to 
 make a correct decision and does finally 
 reach a conclusion, the chances are that 
 it will not meet the approval of all. 
 
 What he especially desired to select and 
 present was that series of remarkable and 
 unparalleled deeds and achievements in 
 the lives of certain great Americans who 
 stand pre-eminent even among those to 
 
Introduction 9 
 
 whom history has awarded the title 
 "Illustrious." He wished to connect them 
 in a way so as to form, as far as possible, 
 a sort of historical and chronological 
 chain of events, showing, at a glance, not 
 only their influence and effect in the for- 
 mation and development of our govern- 
 mental policies and purposes from time 
 to time, not only in the direction of the 
 thought and aspirations of the American 
 people, but their legitimate fruitage in 
 the spectacle of the United States, the 
 greatest and most splendid nation in all 
 history, and destined to remain such if — 
 yes, if — the political demagogue, mounte- 
 bank, or any other nondescript, masque- 
 rading under the guise of a reformer, is 
 kept where he belongs, and the American 
 statesman and patriot of today remains 
 true to his country's ideals, and forgets 
 not the lessons of the patriot-statesman 
 of the past. 
 
 There is a brief discussion of a League 
 of Nations which seemed to come within 
 the purview of this work as a sort of 
 corollary to the proposition discussed by 
 
10 Great Americans 
 
 Mr. Webster in his celebrated reply to 
 Mr. Hayne. 
 
 It is not a large book, but if it in any 
 way fulfils the desire expressed in the 
 foregoing paragraphs, the undersigned 
 will feel that his reward is both abundant 
 and complete. 
 
 L. W. Baxter. 
 
 Philadelphia, Novtmbtr 1. 1923 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 / 
 
 George Washington Frontispiece ^ 
 
 From the bronze bust of Washington in the Hall of the 
 Pennsylvania Historical Society at Philadelphia. The 
 bust rests on a circular pedestal on which are carved the 
 
 words: 
 
 FIRST IN WAR, 
 
 FIRST IN PEACE, 
 
 AND FIRST IN THE HEARTS 
 
 OF HIS COUNTRYMEN. 
 
 Henry Lee was the author of this famous phrase. It first 
 occurs in a set of resolutions he prepared on the death of 
 Washington in 1799. He then submitted his resolutions 
 to his colleague, John Marshall, for approval; and he, 
 after approving them, and at Lee's request, introduced 
 them in Congress. From this circumstance Marshall 
 himself came to be designated as the author. Marshall, 
 however, steadfastly refused to allow history thus to 
 designate him, but invariably ascribed their authorship to 
 Henry Lee. (For a complete history of the phrase, see 
 Life of John Marshall, by Albert J. Beveridge, Vol. H, 
 pp. 443-444). 
 
 Daniel Webster 
 
 Engraved by A. B. Walter. From Life of Webster, by 
 Gen. S. P. Lyman. John E. Potter & Co., Philadelphia, 
 185a. 
 
 Harriet Beecher Stowe 5^ 
 
 A copy of the photogravure of the bust by Miss Durant 
 in 1853. This photogravure, marvelously beautiful and 
 one of the most perfect, appears as a frontispiece in The 
 Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, by Annie Fields, and 
 published by the Houghton, Mifflin Company of Boston, 
 Mass. Special permission was kindly granted by that 
 Company to take a copy of the photogravure for use in 
 this book. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln 68 
 
 Engraved by John Sartain from a photograph from life. 
 (From "Life and Times of Abraham Lincoln," by L. 
 P. Brockett,M. D. Bradley & Co., Philadelphia, 1865.) 
 
 J 
 
 ^ 
 
"GREAT AMERICANS" 
 
 HEREIN CONSIDERED 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Benjamin Franklin 18 
 
 Thomas Jefferson 21 
 
 John Adams 25 
 
 George Washington 29 
 
 Alexander Hamilton 35 
 
 James Monroe 37 
 
 Daniel Webster 40 
 
 Harriet Beecher Stowe 58 
 
 Elizabeth Cady Stanton 60 
 
 Abraham Lincoln 67 
 
 Henry W. Grady 71 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 PAGE 
 The Virginia Convention — The Psychological 
 
 Moment of the American People 31 
 
 The Monroe Doctrine — Its Single Violation 
 
 by Napoleon III 38 
 
 Emerson's Conception of Daniel Webster — 
 
 Extracts from His Journal 40 
 
 Webster's Services to the Nation, 44; His 
 Reply to Hayne a Proof of the Imprac- 
 ticability of a League of Nations 56 
 
 Availability— What is It? The Presidents 
 
 Themselves Its Best Examples 45 
 
 Uncle Tom's Cabin 59 
 
 Woman's Rights 60 
 
 America's Contributions to Civilization — 
 United States and Greece Briefly Com- 
 pared 64 
 
 Emancipation 68 
 
 Grady's Tribute to Lincoln 69 
 
IN THE LIVES OF SOME GREAT AMERICANS 
 
 SmptBtxth 
 
 Or, Making Good the Declaration 
 of Independence 
 
IN THE LIVES OF SOME GREAT AMERICANS 
 
 It is the lot of some persons to do the 
 big things, and the bigger the deeds the 
 more perfect the skill with which they 
 are done. They are the ones, who, like 
 St. Paul, are never disobedient to the 
 spiritual vision when it crosses their 
 path, but answer its call with an un- 
 wavering faith in its truth, realizing in 
 the end an abundant reward. Their ex- 
 perience, of course, is out of the ordinary, 
 and doubtless accounts for the origin of 
 the phrase, "psychological moment," the 
 moment which reveals to its possessor 
 some exceptionally important work to be 
 done, with an exceptional honor and dis- 
 tinction when the service is performed. 
 They are the people whom history praises ; 
 whom the thoughtful student studies; 
 whom the statesman endeavors to copy; 
 whom the orator takes for his theme; 
 whom the general reader finds of sur- 
 
18 Great Americans 
 
 passing human interest ; and so the world 
 is kept green by their extraordinary deeds 
 and achievements. 
 
 Among the great Americans in whose 
 lives are found conspicuous examples of 
 the improvement of "psychological mo- 
 ments," stands Benjamin Franklin, 
 printer, editor, philosopher, statesman, 
 diplomat, patriot! Could versatility be 
 more complete? 
 
 In recounting the deeds which crowded 
 his useful and eventful life, to which 
 would he have given the distinction of 
 being the one which he had performed in 
 obedience to some spiritual vision or 
 psychological moment? Many might say 
 his most brilliant deed was when he drew 
 lightning from the clouds; that probably 
 would be correct. Franklin, however, 
 never regarded that achievement as his 
 highest distinction. On the contrary, his 
 answer doubtless would have been, if 
 asked, "Bead my answers to the members 
 
Benjamin Franklin 19 
 
 of the House of Commons who were 
 chosen to examine me on the subject of 
 the repeal of the Stamp Act,'' not because 
 he achieved on that occasion a tremendous 
 personal triumph, but because of the ter- 
 rible penalty which the mother country 
 paid for her refusal to adopt his sugges- 
 tions and the recommendations he gave to 
 the British statesmen at the time — the 
 loss of her American colonies. That ex- 
 amination, with its lessons in g'overn- 
 ment, in political economy, in practical 
 statesmanship, as revealed in his answers, 
 must have afforded him a constant and 
 peculiar satisfaction of having rendered 
 not only a conspicuous service to his own 
 country, but to England as well. Just 
 one question and its answer : 
 
 ^^Q. You say the Colonies have al- 
 ways submitted to external taxes, and 
 object to the right of Parliament only 
 in laying internal taxes; now can you 
 show that there is any kind of differ- 
 ence between the two taxes to the 
 colony on which they may be laid? 
 
20 Great Americans 
 
 "A. I think the difference is very 
 great. An external tax is a duty laid 
 on commodities imported; that duty is 
 added to the first cost and other charges 
 of the commodity, and when it is offered 
 for sale, makes a part of the price. If 
 the people do not like it at that price, 
 they refuse it; they are not obliged to 
 pay it. But an internal tax is forced 
 from the people without their consent 
 if not laid by their own representatives. 
 The Stamp Act says we shall have no 
 commerce, make no exchange of prop- 
 erty with each other, neither purchase 
 nor grant, nor recover debts; we shall 
 neither marry nor make our wills, 
 unless we pay such and such sums ; and 
 that it is intended to extort our money 
 from us or ruin us by the consequence 
 of refusing to pay it.'' 
 
 Franklin's life was crowded with bril 
 liant deeds ; but the most important of all, 
 it would seem, the one lacking nothing 
 for its completeness, the one that gave 
 him a distinctive place in the sun, was 
 
Thomas Jefferson 21 
 
 his examination bj the Committee in the 
 House of Commons relative to the repeal 
 of the Stamp Act. 
 
 But now another work was to be done, 
 requiring an equally high, if not the high- 
 est order of talent. Who was to do it? 
 
 When Thomas Jefferson wrote the 
 Declaration of American Independence, 
 the crisis in the affairs of the colonists 
 imperatively demanded a document of 
 just such a character and style. Any 
 less forcible statement of the grievances 
 and wrongs impelling America to a sepa- 
 ration from the mother country, or 
 enumerated by a less capable pen, would 
 doubtless have failed of its purpose and 
 fallen flat upon the country. The work, 
 if done well, would constitute an epoch 
 in the evolution and progress of a nation ; 
 if not, it might lack the essential inspira- 
 tion to heroic deeds and continuous cour- 
 age, and would thus imperil, or might 
 imperil, not only the life of its author, but 
 
22 Great Americans 
 
 the lives of all those who were engaged 
 with him in the arduous but glorious task 
 of achieving liberty without tyranny, and 
 the right to rule as freemen should, mak- 
 ing their own laws, subject to no others. 
 That the work was well done all the 
 world admits. That it could have been 
 done better, who has ever claimed? It is 
 such a tribute to his greatness, that his 
 eminence, as a statesman, scholar and 
 writer, in the convention which adopted 
 it, is acknowledged by all. He drew it 
 from out his own intellectual resources, 
 it is said. And yet Franklin was there, 
 a member of the committee, and at the 
 time the most talked-about man in all the 
 world; but he does not appear to have 
 offered even the slightest suggestion in 
 the way of subject-matter, or as to the 
 style in which it should be couched. And 
 Adams was there, the brilliant John 
 Adams, with his wealth of knowledge and 
 readiness to command it, likewise a mem- 
 ber of the committee ; but he too, for aught 
 that appears to the contrary, left the 
 preparation and the composition of that 
 
Thomas Jefferson 23 
 
 world-famous document entirely to Jef- 
 ferson, who, at the time, was only thirty- 
 three years of age. 
 
 Thus did Jefferson improve an oppor- 
 tunity, which might properly be called a 
 "psychological moment," and that, too, 
 without the benefit of a precedent to guide 
 or guard him in the construction of the 
 instrument. It is true that certain ones 
 have claimed that John Milton's writings 
 furnished the key as well as the form of 
 the Declaration of Independence. But 
 did Jefferson ever acknowledge it? He was 
 too great a man not to give credit to whom 
 credit was due; and all the world knows 
 that he placed his authorship of that docu- 
 ment upon a plane even higher than the 
 highest office in the gift of the people, 
 which he afterwards filled, that of Presi- 
 dent of the United States. He had a 
 right to feel proud of that work; it was 
 destined to be an epoch-making document. 
 He did not intend it simply as the fore- 
 runner of a revolution no longer to be 
 resisted, but as an instrument to estab- 
 
24 Great Americans 
 
 lish or to aid in the establishment of a 
 new order of government, in which the 
 people were to be supreme, and subject to 
 no laws except those which they them- 
 selves should make through their own 
 representatives duly chosen for that pur- 
 pose. The ancient despotisms and govern- 
 ments were based upon the principle or 
 theory that the monarch was supreme and 
 the people subordinate, with no right to 
 make laws, but must obey those decreed 
 or proclaimed by the monarch alone. This 
 principle is not wholly extinguished, but 
 exists in a shadowy way in all monarchi- 
 cal countries, and its poison was the es- 
 sential factor in the downfall of Germany 
 and the ruin of her throne in the late 
 world-war. Some men fail when put to 
 the supreme test; but not Jefferson. He 
 did his work with such marvelous skill 
 and completeness, that he must ever rank 
 as one of the most illustrious men America 
 has yet produced. 
 
John Adams 25 
 
 But there was an opportunity which 
 might, with exceptional precision, be 
 called a "psychological moment" in the 
 life of John Adams^ a moment, which 
 many might think quite the equal in im- 
 portance of that which Jefferson so 
 promptly improved — the naming of Wash- 
 ington as the Commander-in-Chief of the 
 American forces — a contribution to the 
 success of the patriot cause in its value 
 impossible to over-estimate. It appears 
 that when that question came up for de- 
 cision, or rather for discussion, John 
 Adams, after several names had been sug- 
 gested of which none created any enthu- 
 siasm, saw at once how fatal the conse- 
 quences might be if a mistake in that 
 direction should be made at the beginning. 
 In his unerring vision of the future he 
 saw a prolonged conflict. He saw infinite 
 troubles and passions that would test the 
 very heart of the patriot cause. He saw 
 the need of a man whose wisdom, judg- 
 ment, patience, and fadeless faith in the 
 justice of that cause would endure to the 
 end. In short, he saw the man Washing- 
 
26 Great Americans 
 
 ton, the heroic Washington, the victorious 
 Washington, the only man fit for the 
 place, but who had not yet been named. 
 Rising grandly superior to state pride, 
 casting aside any such consideration as 
 unworthy the time or place, appreciating 
 the tremendous responsibilities that the 
 war would entail, having as his highest 
 aspiration the success of the revolution 
 and the independence of his country, after 
 a brief eulogy of the man, he named 
 (according to one or two authorities 
 nominated) George Washington of Vir- 
 ginia as the proper person for that posi- 
 tion; and shortly thereafter Washington 
 was unanimously elected as the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the American forces. 
 
 It is useless, of course, at this time, to 
 speculate as to what would or might have 
 been the result of the war had not Wash- 
 ington at the beginning been placed in 
 supreme command. His capacity as a 
 military man had already been tested 
 upon many a field. His courage and skill 
 in the conduct of troops in the frontier 
 
John Adams 27 
 
 wars were without parallel. His name 
 was synonymous with truth, virtue and 
 patriotism. If it were needed that a 
 commander should infuse courage, faith, 
 patriotism, with all their attendant bene- 
 fits, into the hearts and minds of those 
 for whom he would fight, that man was 
 Washington. He was born for the place 
 and the place was created for him. So it 
 seemed. It is probable that he would 
 have been given the place, in any event, 
 at some time. But when? Ah, "to be or 
 not to be'- willing to acknowledge a mis- 
 take, and if willing, then instantly to cor- 
 rect it, "that's the question!" Pride, 
 prejudice, ignorance, hatred, jealousy, 
 envy, treacher}^, no matter what the occa- 
 sion, station or situation, have been ever 
 the bane of over-selfish, over-proud, over- 
 ambitious individuals, operating in or 
 upon their minds at times so powerfully, 
 that they are willing, it seems, to sacri- 
 fice the very cause which they have taken 
 up arms to establish, even to risk their 
 own lives, rather than to see another 
 succeed, if by his success that other is 
 
28 Great Americans 
 
 likely to gain a renown that will cast 
 their own reputations into the shade. 
 
 Suppose that Lee, whose treachery to 
 Washington at Monmouth almost 
 wrecked the patriot fortunes, had been 
 given the chief command? What char- 
 acter had Lee to sustain? What reputa- 
 tion could he have given to the patriot 
 cause? Was he not simply an adventurer 
 who had espoused the cause of the pa- 
 triots? Did his patriotism extend beyond 
 his personal fortunes? And yet he had the 
 effrontery to criticise a man almost 
 infinitely his superior, even Washington 
 himself. 
 
 Hesitation is becoming in the mention 
 of Arnold, — the hero of Saratoga, the 
 traitor at W^est Point. There were evi- 
 dently two Arnolds, a good and a bad 
 one, struggling under the same skin, each 
 contending for the supremacy according 
 to circumstances. At Saratoga the good 
 Arnold triumphed ; at West Point, the bad 
 one. Such a catastrophe to character, 
 reputation and brilliant promise has no 
 
George Washington 29 
 
 duplicate in American history. Suppose 
 that Arnold had been given the chief 
 command? or Gates? It was not so to 
 be. 
 
 All honor to Adams! His fame, like 
 Jefferson's, like Franklin's, is deathless, 
 and his place among the foremost master 
 builders of his country is forever secure. 
 
 And what of Washington, the hero of 
 the revolution, the father of his country? 
 Was there any special moment in his 
 career, fairly distinguishable from all his 
 other acts, that may be called his "psycho- 
 logical moment?" Yes, but it happened 
 when he was about to complete his cabi- 
 net, after he had been chosen President 
 of the United States, and will be referred 
 to in connection with that subject. His 
 career as a w^hole was so great, so unique 
 and exceptional, that it is rather in con- 
 trast with others that his greatness may 
 be seen. But with whom should he be 
 compared? With Caesar? Were they 
 not more unlike than like? Their motives 
 
30 Great Americans 
 
 were different; their ambitions were dif- 
 ferent; their purposes were continents 
 apart. Caesar fought to make Caesar 
 great; Washington, for his country's 
 greatness. Caesar fought for the exten- 
 sion of tyranny; Washington, for the 
 establishment of liberty. Caesar fought 
 that Rome might absorb the rest of the 
 known world; Washington, for the erec- 
 tion of the American Union. Rome, by 
 its very name, inspired terror to other 
 peoples. The American Union is the hope 
 of the world. Nevertheless, 
 
 In the enduring qualities of fame, 
 Washington and Caesar are just the same. 
 
 The surrender of Cornwallis at York- 
 town, however, while it ended the Revo- 
 lution, did not establish the American 
 Union, at least not the one prefigured in 
 the Declaration of Independence. That 
 struggle was to come at a later time, not 
 to be settled with powder and shot, but 
 with brighter and keener weapons, ora- 
 tory and argument. 
 
George Washington 31 
 
 When the Constitution, or rather the 
 proposed Constitution of 1787 was sub- 
 mitted to the several states for ratifica- 
 tion or rejection, opposition of the most 
 emphatic character suddenly developed 
 in some of the states, particularly in Vir- 
 ginia and Massachusetts, whose repre- 
 sentatives had actually participated in 
 the labors of the Convention which had 
 produced the very document itself. 
 Patrick Henry, whose liberty speech had 
 been declaimed by every school boy in 
 America, was now exclaiming, "Give me 
 liberty or give me death, but not the Con- 
 stitution of '87.'' He declared it would 
 be dangerous to the liberties of the people. 
 Among other alleged defects, he professed 
 to see unlimited opportunities for the 
 country to slide into a monarchy by rea- 
 son of the lack of check on the Presi- 
 dent's power to perpetuate himself in 
 office, the instrument not limiting the 
 President to any one or more terms. In 
 addition to his splendid powers of ora- 
 tory, Henry had the faculty of making the 
 arguments of his opponents to appear, not 
 
32 Great Americans 
 
 only weak, but utterly illogical and 
 founded on false premises. It was only 
 after Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, 
 Hamilton, Madison, Jay, and many 
 others, including John Marshall, had 
 either spoken or written in favor of its 
 adoption, and had clearly proven that the 
 arguments of Henry and his associates 
 were unsound, that Virginia ratified the 
 Constitution by a majority of ten votes. 
 
 It was a wonderful debate — the most 
 splendid intellectual contest of which any 
 country or age has a record — worthy the 
 men, worthy the occasion. Demosthenes, 
 the echo of whose eloquence, it is said, is 
 still heard among the ruins of the Parthe- 
 non, had no such audience or such a cause. 
 He spoke for himself, his glory alone was 
 his theme. Cicero thundered at Catiline, 
 a dangerous conspirator, whose expulsion 
 from Kome he demanded and finally suc- 
 ceeded in securing. Burke fell into the 
 arms of a friend when he had finished 
 his indictment of Hastings; but the in- 
 dictment failed in the end. How trivial 
 
George Washington 33 
 
 were they all when compared with the 
 question: ^^Shall the United States of 
 America be established under a Constitu- 
 tion, limiting and defining the powers of 
 her President and Congress, and yet pre- 
 serving to each State her own Constitu- 
 tion, limiting and defining the powers of 
 her Governor and Legislature, neither to 
 be in conflict with the other, but all to 
 operate in harmony to promote the pros- 
 perity and happiness of the whole peo- 
 ple?" 
 
 From the dawn of civilization, no such 
 question or proposition had ever before 
 been presented to the consideration and 
 judgment of an intelligent people. It w^as 
 no wonder that a diversity of opinion de- 
 veloped at an early stage; it was an ex- 
 cellent thing to happen; it excited thi 
 widest discussion. Indeed it might w^ith 
 the utmost propriety be said that the en- 
 tire period of debate was the one supreme 
 "psychological moment" of the American 
 people, being grandly improved by their 
 ablest representatives ; for when that dis- 
 cussion was ended and the Constitution 
 
34 Great Americans 
 
 finally adopted, every provision of that 
 instrument was perfectly known to every 
 man, woman and child in the land, who 
 could read the English language. 
 
 The new government was quickly or- 
 ganized. The Chief Executive had no op- 
 position. Who but Washington for Presi- 
 dent? And who but Adams for Vice- 
 President? But the President must have 
 a Cabinet. He gave to General Knox the 
 portfolio of War; to Jefferson the port- 
 folio of State. But now was the diJBaculty 
 — to whom should he assign the post of 
 Secretary of the Treasury? At the time it 
 was considered the most important and 
 responsible of all. So much depended 
 upon the administration of the duties of 
 that office that the entire question, not 
 only as to whether the Ship of State 
 could be made to float to sea, but whether, 
 after getting there, she could keep her 
 course, would be largely in the keeping 
 of the man whom the President should 
 appoint to that position. Was there such 
 
Alexander Hamilton 35 
 
 a man? Yes. Who? Alexander Hamil- 
 ton. Then occurred the one supreme 
 "psychological moment" in Washington's 
 life, and which he promptly improved by 
 offering the position to Hamilton ; and if 
 ever there was a "psychological moment" 
 in Hamilton's life which he promptly 
 improved, it was when he immediately 
 accepted the appointment. 
 
 Who was Alexander Hamilton? He 
 was a man of such intellectual stature 
 that Jefferson alone could reach him. 
 He was a man of such brilliant oratorical 
 power that Adams alone could match 
 him. He w^as a man of such far-seeing 
 vision, such accuracy of apprehension of 
 the financial needs of the new govern- 
 ment, and of such incorruptible integrity, 
 that Washington alone might surpass 
 him. 
 
 Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamil- 
 ton ! Shall we ever see their superiors in 
 all that constitutes true greatness? 
 
36 Great Americans 
 
 The Ship seems destined to a prosper- 
 ous voyage; it sails proudly out to sea. 
 It finds its area of operation suddenly 
 doubled by the fortunate jjurchase of 
 what was known as the Louisiana terri- 
 tory, a stroke of good luck or possibly of 
 brilliant statesmanship on the part of 
 President Jefferson to whom the credit 
 is generally given, although according to 
 Mr. Jefferson himself the credit belongs 
 quite as much to his tw^o commissioners, 
 James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston, 
 through whose consummate tact and skill 
 the negotiations for its acquisition were 
 conducted and concluded, and the terri- 
 tory actually ceded to the United States 
 by Napoleon himself, the arch-genius of 
 France. 
 
 In 1823 James Monroe, as President of 
 the United States, acting under the in- 
 spiration of the occasion, in a message to 
 Congress, his truly "psychological mo- 
 ment,'' was destined to achieve a fame 
 quite equal, if not superior to that which 
 
James Monroe 37 
 
 he achieved as a commissioner in the pur- 
 chase of the Louisiana territory, by his 
 declaration of the principle that has come 
 to be known as the ^^Monroe Doctrine," a 
 doctrine or principle that as it was not 
 the policy or purpose of the United States 
 to interfere in the affairs of the European 
 governments, such governments should 
 not interfere in the affairs of the Ameri- 
 can governments, whether of North or 
 South America, "and that any attempt 
 on the part of European powers to ex- 
 tend their systems on this continent, or 
 any interference to oppress, or in any 
 manner to control the destiny of, govern- 
 ments whose independence had been 
 acknowledged by the United States, would 
 be regarded as a manifestation of an un- 
 friendly feeling toward this government, 
 and would be treated accordingly,'' — a 
 doctrine to which our government is so 
 completely and unreservedly committed 
 that any violation of the same on the part 
 of any foreign government or power 
 would arouse at once such a universal 
 chorus of protest, that a million of arms 
 
38 Great Americans 
 
 on a moment's notice would rush to vin- 
 dicate its wisdom, justice and authority. 
 And it is only proper to say that no Euro- 
 pean power has ever violated or attempted 
 to violate this doctrine, either directly or 
 indirectly, either in letter or in spirit, ex- 
 cept once, when our government was in 
 the throes of civil war and Mexico in a 
 state of anarchy. This was in 1863, when 
 Louis Napoleon, Emperor of France, tak- 
 ing advantage of the situation, yielding to 
 pressure from certain Mexican notables, 
 members of the conservative party, who 
 had appealed to him to send over a ruler 
 and restore Mexico to an orderly govern- 
 ment, permitted the ill-fated Maximilian, 
 an Austrian archduke, to assume the 
 reins of the Mexican government in 1864. 
 But the Mexican liberal party, being in 
 the majority, repudiated his authority 
 and right to rule, and finally after a war- 
 fare of three years, Maximilian (who in 
 the meantime had been left to himself, 
 Napoleon having withdrawn from the 
 enterprise upon the peremptory request 
 of the United States), was overwhelm- 
 
James Monroe 39 
 
 inglj defeated, taken prisoner, tried by 
 court-martial, found guilty and put to 
 death. Thus ended in a miserable fiasco 
 the attempt on the part of Louis Napo- 
 leon to establish a monarchy over, or to 
 control the government or destiny of 
 Mexico, a part of the western continent, 
 in violation of the "Monroe Doctrine," — 
 a violation of the principle of non-inter- 
 ference in American affairs which cannot 
 be committed even in spirit, without 
 bringing upon the culprit the punish- 
 ment his conduct deserves. 
 
 Thus did James Monroe, by a proper 
 appreciation of his duty to his country as 
 its President, and with the conviction and 
 courage of an American statesman, win 
 an immortality of fame as a patriot ; and 
 his message to Congress in which he made 
 this epochal declaration is or ought to 
 be placed forever by the side of the Decla- 
 ration of American Independence. 
 
 But at length a storm arises ; it grows 
 in volume and strength; it threatens the 
 Ship of State. Who will save it? All 
 
40 Great Americans 
 
 hopes seem to center in one man — Daniel 
 Webster. Would you like to know him? 
 Emerson's pen-picture of the great man 
 is a faithful likeness, showing the spec- 
 tacle of a human idol witnessing the peo- 
 ple at his feet ; and then the idol gradually 
 turning into clay, with scarcely a wor- 
 shiper to be seen. 
 
 Vol. I, Emerson's Journal, p. 175: 
 "W>bster was chosen representative to 
 Congress by a majority of 1,078 votes 
 this morning, November 4, 1822." 
 
 Vol. II, p. 295: ^^Read with admira- 
 tion and delight Mr. Webster's noble 
 speech in answer to Hayne. W^hat 
 consciousness of political rectitude, and 
 what confidence in his intellectual 
 treasures must he have to enable him 
 to take this master's tone. The beauty 
 and dignity of the spectacle he exhibits 
 should teach men the beauty and dig- 
 nity of principles^' 
 
 Vol. Ill, p. 471: "Daniel Webster, 
 
Daniel Webster 41 
 
 Nature's own child, sat there [at Lex- 
 ington] all day, and drew all eyes." 
 
 Vol. V, p. 243 : "With those devour- 
 ing eyes, with that portraying hand, 
 Carlyle has seen Webster." 
 
 Vol. VI, p. 341: "His external ad- 
 vantages are very rare and admirable; 
 his noble and majestic frame, his 
 breadth and projection of brows, his 
 coal-black hair, his great cinderous 
 eyes, his perfect self-possession, and the 
 rich and well-modulated thunder (to 
 which I used to listen, sometimes, ab- 
 stracting myself from his sense merely 
 for the luxury of such noble explosions 
 of sound) distinguish him from all 
 other men. In a million you would 
 single him out. . . . He has misused 
 the opportunity of making himself the 
 darling of the American people in all 
 coming time by abstaining from putting 
 himself at the head of the An ti- Slavery 
 interest, by standing for New England. 
 
42 Great Americans 
 
 ... He is intellect applied to affairs. 
 He is the greatest of lawyers." 
 
 Vol. VIII, p. 45: "It is true that 
 Webster has never done anything up to 
 the promise of his faculties. He is un- 
 mistakably able, and might have ruled 
 America, but he was cowardly, and has 
 spent his life in specialties. When shall 
 we see as rich a vase again?" 
 
 Vol. VIII, p. 182: "Pho! Let Mr. 
 Webster, for decency's sake, shut his 
 lips once and forever on this word. The 
 word liberty in the mouth of Mr. Web- 
 ster sounds like the word love in the 
 mouth of a courtesan." 
 
 Vol. VIII, p. 216: "Webster's ab- 
 sence of moral faculty is degrading to 
 the country." 
 
 Only one more quotation from that 
 painstaking Journal. Mr. Webster is 
 dead. Mr. Emerson seems to see some- 
 thing in the distance, which gradually 
 
Daniel Webster 43 
 
 assumes, though imperfectly, the godlike 
 proportions of his once great idol. 
 
 Vol. VIII, p. 335: "Last Sunday I 
 was at Plymouth on the beach, and 
 looked across the hazy water — to 
 Marshfield. I supposed Webster must 
 have passed away, as indeed he had died 
 at three in the morning. . . . Nature had 
 not in our days, or not since Napoleon, 
 cut out such a masterpiece. He was a 
 man in equilihrio . . . ^Os, oculosque 
 Jovi par.' . . . But alas ! He was the vic- 
 tim of his ambition; to please the 
 South betrayed the North, and was 
 thrown out by both." 
 
 Nevertheless, this was the mighty man 
 who had saved the Ship when the great 
 storm arose thirty years before. What 
 had he done to alienate the friendship of 
 the Sage of Concord, as well as the friend- 
 ship of multitudes of his Northern 
 friends? What had he done? He had sim- 
 ply added another proof to what was al- 
 ready incontestable, that no man is so 
 
44 Great Americans 
 
 great as to be all greatness ; that no man 
 can be so perfect as to be all perfection. 
 He had been the superman of the North, 
 and the North wanted him to remain such. 
 It did not consider that a man of such 
 superlative greatness would naturally 
 some day wish to become President, and 
 that to become such he must make himself 
 available as a candidate. He became a can- 
 didate ; and as such he deemed it prudent 
 to set his house in order, to build his po- 
 litical fences, and to do such other things 
 as a candidate usually finds it necessary 
 or expedient to do to make himself accept- 
 able to his party. 
 
 But Mr. Webster, while the greatest of 
 statesmen, was one of the poorest of poli- 
 ticians. Had he been less of a statesman 
 and more of a politician, he would have 
 seen absolute death to all his aspirations 
 for the Presidency in any support he 
 might be induced to give to those radical 
 compromise measures of Mr. Clay in 1850. 
 Whether Mr. Clay intended those meas- 
 ures as a trap to Mr. Webster, or whether 
 they reflected his honest judgment and 
 
Daniel Webster 45 
 
 convictions, it is certain that Mr. Web- 
 ster, by Ms support of those measures in 
 his so-called "Seventh of March speech," 
 whatever the impression he might have 
 made in the minds of the Southern people, 
 quite obliterated the impression of his 
 availability as a candidate from the minds 
 of his Northern friends, at least from the 
 minds of the majority of his friends. 
 
 What then is availability? It is some- 
 times claimed that to be available, the 
 candidate is not necessarily required to 
 possess an extraordinary intelligence, but 
 only a respectable amount, supplemented 
 by an agreeable character, willing to take 
 orders from his party chiefs. But, if the 
 history of political conventions, and espe- 
 cially the history of the Presidents them- 
 selves, furnish any guide to the actual 
 requirements of the office, such a concep- 
 tion of availability is almost wholly with- 
 out authority or support. On the con- 
 trary, with rare exceptions, the success- 
 ful candidate was distinguished, not only 
 by his splendid intelligence, but by his 
 
46 Great Americans 
 
 splendid courage and strength of char- 
 acter. 
 
 The examples are plentiful. 
 
 Washington was so evenly balanced in 
 all his characteristics that he might prop- 
 erly be said to stand alone. 
 
 Adams was a man of such solid quali- 
 fications that he naturally became the 
 successor of Washington. 
 
 Jefferson's learning and brilliant at- 
 tainments were almost as universal as 
 Francis Bacon's. 
 
 Madison was a man of such masterful 
 abilities that he barely escaped being a 
 genius. Besides, he has the reputation 
 of being the "Father of the Constitution." 
 What greater honor could a man achieve? 
 
 Monroe's passport to fame was not 
 alone his connection with the purchase of 
 the Louisiana territory, but his immortal 
 declaration of "The Monroe Doctrine." 
 
 Jackson, while possessing considerable 
 intelligence, and a wonderful reputation 
 as a warrior, was likewise possessed of a 
 character for firmness that had its coun- 
 terpart mostly in steel or brass. 
 
Daniel Webster 47 
 
 Lincoln's learning, while not universal, 
 was yet of such a character as to make 
 him a national figure. He was greatly 
 distinguished as a logician as well as a 
 statesman; and his speeches were com- 
 posed in such elegant English that they 
 were taken by the universities as models 
 of grace and style. 
 
 Grant's unparalleled military achieve- 
 ments, rare common sense, and splendid 
 patriotism served him well during the 
 eight years he was the occupant of the 
 White House. 
 
 Garfield, cut down by an assassin, had 
 but little opportunity to show his peculiar 
 aptitude for that office; but his long ex- 
 perience in the House of Representatives 
 had already given him a national reputa- 
 tion as a statesman, orator and patriot. 
 
 Cleveland left the presidential chair 
 with such distinction as a statesman, such 
 honor as a patriot, and such renown for 
 his ability as Chief Magistrate that after 
 an interval of four years he was again 
 elected to that office, succeeding Benja- 
 
48 Great Americans 
 
 min Harrison, a very great lawyer and a 
 wise and prudent executive. 
 
 McKinley was probably the most lov- 
 able man that was ever elected President. 
 His pre-eminent fitness for that office was 
 never disputed. He did not enter the 
 Spanish-Cuban war quite as quickly as 
 some critics desired, but when he did, the 
 blow which he struck ended forever the 
 tyranny of Spain in the western world. 
 
 Roosevelt was a man something like 
 Washington, — standing practically by 
 himself. His exceeding intelligence, his 
 almost superhuman achievements as 
 President, soldier, hunter, and in every 
 capacity in which he acted, lift him high 
 among the illustrious Americans. His 
 fame must ever grow brighter as the years 
 roll around. 
 
 Mr. Taft, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Harding 
 are still among the living. The versatility 
 of Mr. Taft, with his record of office-hold- 
 ing, including his present office of Chief 
 Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, make him a world figure. 
 
 Mr. Wilson is hard to characterize. At 
 
Daniel Webster 49 
 
 one time he had the world at his feet. 
 Whether he will ever see it there again 
 time only can tell. But for strength of 
 intelligence, masterful ability as a writer 
 and speaker and for comprehensive and 
 enlightened st\atesmanship, he has few 
 equals and hardly a superior. 
 
 Mr. Harding is the admiration of all. 
 His superior mental endowments, his fine 
 personality, his constant desire that his 
 country shall not fail in the performance 
 of all her obligations, fit him in an emi- 
 nent degree for the office of Chief Magis- 
 trate. He has supreme control of him- 
 self, and is exceedingly popular with the 
 people. His "psychological moments" 
 have been many, and history will say of 
 him that he was not disobedient to any. 
 
 What then is availability? Not wealth 
 of intelligence alone, nor magnitude of 
 services as a statesman alone; but wealth 
 of intelligence, supplemented by a char- 
 acter so strong that under no circum- 
 stances will its possessor compromise or 
 consent to a compromise with principle, 
 
50 Great Americans 
 
 even for a moment. Mr. Webster had, in 
 the opinion of his Northern friends, com- 
 promised with principle, and his avail- 
 ability as a candidate was at an end. 
 
 But, however fatal may have been his 
 "Seventh of March speech" to his presi- 
 dential aspirations in 1850, he is forever 
 entitled to the gratitude and affections of 
 the American people for his inestimable 
 service to the nation, when, thirty years 
 before, standing in the United States 
 Senate, clearly the most distinguished 
 figure in public life, whether in this or in 
 any other land, he proceeded to unfold, 
 in his reply to Hayne, the true principles 
 upon which this nation was organized, 
 demonstrating with a wealth of argument 
 and illustration not only the indissolu- 
 bility of the American Union, but the es- 
 sential unsoundness of the doctrine that 
 the United States was simply a compact 
 between or among the states, and not a 
 compact by and among all the people of 
 the United States. If the Union was 
 simply a compact by and among the 
 
Daniel Webster 51 
 
 several states, then the Union was simply 
 a rope of sand, dissolvable at the will of 
 the states, or of any one of the states. 
 The American Union was not the creation 
 of the states, but the creation of all the 
 people of all the states, and therefore the 
 United States must of necessity be su> 
 perior to any of the states in sovereignty 
 and authority as to any and all of the 
 powers expressed or implied in the Con- 
 stitution of the American Union. It was 
 a wonderful argument, made by the 
 greatest lawyer, orator and statesman in 
 the land. An extended analysis would be 
 inappropriate as well as impossible here. 
 It deserves to be studied, not only by the 
 lawyer and jurist, but by the student of 
 history as well. 
 
 If was, of course, a great occasion, just 
 such an opportunity or "psychological 
 moment" as Mr. Webster needed for the 
 display of his marvelous ability as a con- 
 stitutional lawyer. Mr. Hayne himself 
 was a strong antagonist and a brilliant 
 debater. His skill in the statement of 
 
52 Great Americans 
 
 legal propositions was only surpassed by 
 that of Mr. Webster himself. Both im- 
 proved the occasion to the uttermost, and 
 their names and fame are a part of the 
 heritage of the American people. 
 
 What, then, becomes of the proposition, 
 so zealously advocated by a certain class 
 of statesmen or would-be statesmen, that 
 a League of Nations could be effectively 
 formed without a compact by and among 
 all the people of the confederating na- 
 tions, but by simply a compact among the 
 said nations themselves? Would not such 
 a League be wholly ineffective, a mere 
 rope of sand, as Mr. Webster clearly 
 proved? If, however, it is proposed to 
 form a League upon the plan of the 
 American Union, a Union which is su- 
 perior in sovereignty, power and author- 
 ity to any of the nations entering into it, 
 as to the purposes of the League to be 
 expressed in its Constitution, then it is 
 manifest that such a League cannot be 
 effectively formed without a compact by 
 and among all the people of the several 
 
Daniel Webstee 53 
 
 nations proposing to form a League. The 
 American Union, made up of many states, 
 was effectively formed in a way that gave 
 to the Union a power and sovereignty 
 superior to any of the states as to the 
 powers expressed or necessarily implied 
 in the Constitution of the Union. As to 
 those powers expressed or necessarily 
 implied each state was subordinate and 
 obliged to yield to the superior sover- 
 eignty of the nation. How otherwise 
 could the nation exist as a nation? How 
 otherwise could a League of Nations ex- 
 ist for a moment? Mr. Webster clearly 
 demonstrated that if the American Union 
 was simply the creation of the states, then 
 it was nothing more than an emotional 
 Union, dissolvable at the will of the states 
 or of any of the states, existing only so 
 long as all of the states deemed it in har- 
 mony with their emotions or will. 
 
 Of course, the controversy does not and 
 cannot center upon any such League as 
 that, but rather upon how an effective 
 League can be formed by a lawful dele- 
 gation of power by or from any of the 
 
54 Great Americans 
 
 several nations which should unite to 
 form a League. So far as the United 
 States is concerned, her Constitution con- 
 tains no power to delegate power for the 
 creation of a League of Nations. She may 
 enter into treaties with other nations in 
 the manner provided in the Constitution. 
 A League of Nations, however, is not a 
 treaty, but the creation of a super-nation ; 
 for that is just what a League of Nations 
 would have to be in order to have any 
 jurisdiction, power or authority superior 
 to any of the nations entering into it as 
 to any of the powers expressed in its Con- 
 stitution or agreement to form a League. 
 If, therefore, the United States has no 
 power to enter into a League of Nations, 
 by virtue of its powers as expressed in 
 the Constitution, then to enable it to do 
 so, it is evident that the Constitution it- 
 self would have to be amended, either in 
 such a way as to have the whole contro- 
 versy settled by a direct vote of the people, 
 or by an amendment that would enable 
 the President or Senate, or both the Presi- 
 dent and Senate, to aid in the creation 
 
Daniel Webster 55 
 
 of such a League in the manner provided 
 by the amendment. 
 
 In the event of such a League being 
 formed in such a manner, so far as the 
 United States is concerned, what would 
 be the result? Would not the United 
 States necessarily assume precisely the 
 same relations to the League as each of 
 the states of the American Union assumes 
 to the Union itself? Her position in the 
 League would be one of subordination to 
 the League ; and to that extent, or to the 
 extent of the powers she had granted, she 
 would be inferior to the League, both in 
 sovereignty and authority; and neces- 
 sarily so, because she would have so 
 agreed when her Constitution was 
 amended for that purpose. 
 
 A nation has power, inherent power, 
 to protect itself against invasion, insur- 
 rection or rebellion; in other words, it 
 has the inherent power to protect itself 
 from destruction. But has it the power 
 to amend its Constitution in such a man- 
 ner as to change or transform the nation 
 into some other kind of nation, wholly 
 
56 Great Americans 
 
 different from that which was expressed 
 in its Constitution before such an amend- 
 ment? A nation supreme in its sover- 
 eignty, authority and independence 
 manifestly cannot vote away any part 
 of such sovereignty, authority and inde- 
 pendence, however small the part, without 
 diminishing its sovereignty and su- 
 premacy to the extent voted away. And 
 to the extent voted away, or to the extent 
 expressed in the Constitution of the 
 League, does it not necessarily acknowl- 
 edge the superior sovereignty, authority 
 and power of the League? 
 
 In case of any conflict between the 
 League and any one or more nations 
 forming the League, who is to settle the 
 controversy? If the controversy should 
 be between the League and the United 
 States, would the Supreme Court of the 
 United States have jurisdiction of the 
 subject-matter? Of course not. That 
 question was settled by Mr. Webster be- 
 yond all possibility of doubt. His reply 
 to Hayne established the principle that 
 when a conflict arose between a state and 
 
Daniel Webster 57 
 
 the nation as to whether a state was 
 bound to obey an act of Congress, the na- 
 tion was superior to the state (assuming, 
 of course, that the Congress had exercised 
 or had attempted to exercise no power 
 not expressed in the Constitution of the 
 Union, and further assuming that the Act 
 of Congress had been declared to be con- 
 stitutional by the Supreme Court of the 
 United States). Would not the same 
 principle apply between a League of Na- 
 tions and any one of its states in case of 
 a conflict between them? 
 
 The United States should be proud of 
 herself today, standing as a beacon light 
 to all the other nations in the world. If 
 she ever enters into a League of Nations, 
 let it be done in such a manner that no 
 possible harm can come either to her peo- 
 ple or institutions in the least degree. 
 But we stand with W^ebster, who, while 
 demonstrating the indissolubility of the 
 American Union as then existent under 
 its Constitution, unconsciously demon- 
 strated the impracticability of that Union 
 ever entering into a League of Nations. 
 
58 Great Americans 
 
 But Webster was yet alive when Har- 
 riet Beecher Stowe began her radiant 
 career as a writer and social reformer, 
 playing a part in the drama of the nation 
 in a manner so noble as to constitute an 
 epoch, one of the most brilliant in the 
 political as well as in the literary history 
 of the United States. In culture, char- 
 acter and depth of human sympathy, her 
 whole life was in perfect accord with the 
 ideals of that celebrated family of which 
 she was a member, being the daughter of 
 Dr. Lyman S. Beecher, an eminent divine, 
 and sister of the world-renowned orator 
 and minister, Henry Ward Beecher. 
 
 The spectacle of a human slave on 
 American soil was an anomaly to this 
 gifted woman. The institution which 
 could claim absolute power over a human 
 being was reconcilable neither to her con- 
 science nor to the purposes of God, and 
 she resolved to give it a blow, and to its 
 death, if she could. Her "psychological 
 moment" was one of the brightest that 
 ever flashed upon the mind of woman or 
 man in the revelation of the exceptional 
 
Harriet Beecher Stowe 59 
 
 work she was required to do, and to which 
 she was instantly obedient. She wrote 
 a book, called "Uncle Tom's Cabin," so 
 charming in style, so entrancing in inter- 
 est, so thrilling in deed, so varied in char- 
 acter, so full of the tenderest pathos and 
 feeling, so sparkling with humor, and 
 withal so dramatic in action, that its 
 fame, even at the present time, is almost 
 as great as when it first appeared three 
 quarters of a century ago. Translated 
 into every known language, and exhibited 
 upon the stage to countless millions of 
 people, at home and abroad, the story of 
 Uncle Tom and Little Eva, and all the 
 other characters in that matchless book, 
 seems destined to endure, if not forever, 
 at least for ages yet to come. 
 
 What a fame! What a glory! Fade- 
 less, deathless, eternal! Mrs. Stow8 
 wrought a most splendid service to the 
 nation. Her book exercised a tremendous 
 influence for good. But it did not of itself 
 accomplish the purpose of the book. 
 That event took place just eleven years 
 after it first saw the light. The stroke was 
 
60 Great Americans 
 
 made by a still mightier pen, by a still 
 mightier soul; but the stroke was easier 
 by reason of the labors of this wonderful 
 woman, who is entitled to rank among the 
 illustrious dead. 
 
 And now we come to another great 
 woman, another great American, one of 
 the greatest of her sex, one whose 
 "psychological moment'' was quite as 
 luminous and certain as Mrs. Stowe's — 
 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the pioneer, 
 leader, peerless orator and advocate of 
 that popular, heroic, nation-wide move- 
 ment known as "Woman's Rights." While 
 Mrs. Stowe with her magical pen was 
 enlisting thousands of eloquent voices to 
 aid in the work in which she was engaged 
 while writing and publishing in serial 
 form the story of "Uncle Tom," Mrs. 
 Stanton with her magical voice was en- 
 listing thousands of eloquent pens, per- 
 haps none more effective than Susan B. 
 Anthony's, to aid in the work in which 
 she was engaged — the emancipation of 
 
Elizabeth Cady Stanton 61 
 
 woman. Each believed in the righteous- 
 ness of her cause, and labored to bring it 
 to pass with a fidelity unsurpassed in the 
 history of mankind. 
 
 Mrs. Stanton did not, like Mrs. Stowe, 
 live to see the triumph of her cause; but 
 had her splendid life been spared a few 
 years longer she would have realized the 
 fruition of her hopes and ambitions to the 
 very limit of her dreams, not only cr^-stal- 
 lized and secured in the form of an amend- 
 ment to the Constitution, but for her 
 crowning joy she would have seen bril- 
 liant representatives of her sex actually 
 sitting in the seats of the mighty, per- 
 forming their duties as lawmakers with 
 the utmost dignity and success. 
 
 It probablj^ would serve no useful pur- 
 pose to enter upon any extended compari- 
 son of the respective merits of the two 
 causes in which these two extraordinary 
 women were engaged, not including the 
 miscellaneous writings of Mrs. Stowe, 
 outside of "Uncle Tom's Cabin.'' It 
 
62 Great Americans 
 
 might be said, however, that "as one star 
 differs from another star in glory," so 
 differs the character of the work each per- 
 formed. To lift up the one upon whom 
 Nature herself had seemed to place her 
 mark of inferiority and bondage, appeared 
 to be a task too herculean for human 
 achievement, too difficult and fanciful for 
 serious endeavor. And yet the bondman 
 became the freedman, the freeman and 
 the citizen, to the imperishable glory of 
 the nation whose corner-stone was and 
 is the Declaration of American Inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 But "Woman's Rights," — what were 
 they? If natural to man^ a proper quali- 
 fication, then why not natural to woman? 
 Of course, they are natural neither to 
 man nor woman, being purely artificial, 
 man-made, that is all. Why, then, was 
 woman deprived of these rights, though 
 artificial they may be? The answer is 
 not difficult. Way back in the dim, dark 
 ages of antiquity, man, being the stronger, 
 assumed as his natural prerogative the 
 
Elizabeth Cady Stanton 63 
 
 right to leadership, the right to rule, look- 
 ing upon woman, who was the weaker, as 
 his inferior, and treating her as such. 
 This is easily understandable. But the 
 curious thing is, the mystical and puzzling 
 thing, that man, the American, after 
 emerging from his primitive state, after 
 becoming more and more enlightened, 
 after acquiring wisdom by experience and 
 education, after the completest evidence 
 of "woman's rights" had been established 
 a thousand times or more, should still 
 stand by that ancient classification, yield- 
 ing at last only when by withholding them 
 further he would convict himself not only 
 of an arbitrary exercise of power, but of 
 arbitrarily and knowingly continuing a 
 manifest wrong. 
 
 Thus within the memory of many who 
 are now living, two of the most extraordi- 
 nary, significant and epoch-making events 
 have occurred within the United States, — 
 the extinction of slavery and the enfran- 
 chisement of woman — contributions to a 
 civilization the highest yet achieved, and 
 
64 Great Americans 
 
 extending far beyond the borders of our 
 own republic. 
 
 And yet, strange as it may appear, cer- 
 tain writers and historians apparently 
 take the greatest delight in referring to 
 Greece, either as the repository of all 
 human greatness or as the source from 
 which all human greatness has sprung. 
 Even so eminent a jurist as the late Sir 
 Henr}^ Sumner Maine, once wrote : "Ex- 
 cept the blind forces of nature, there is 
 nothing that moves in the world today 
 that is not Greek in origin." 
 
 A beautiful tribute, but manifestly too 
 broad. Take religion for instance. Is it 
 a blind force of nature, or one of the most 
 intense of spiritual forces? Is there any- 
 thing in the literature of Greece that 
 corresponds to the Hebrew conception of 
 the Deity or to its ceremonial worship of 
 the one God? Would it be strictly his- 
 torical to say that the Christian religion 
 had its origin in Greece? Why, when St. 
 Paul spoke to the Athenians of "the resur- 
 rection of the dead, some mocked: and 
 
Elizabeth Cady Stanton 65 
 
 others said, We will hear thee again of 
 this matter.'^ 
 
 Equally unfortunate is the statement 
 when applied to the political affairs of 
 Greece. It never occurred to her wisest 
 statesman, either when Athens or when 
 Sparta was supreme, that the Common- 
 wealth could be improved, or be made to 
 gain in power, dignity or in the happiness 
 of her people, by the extinction of slavery 
 or the elevation of woman to political 
 equality with man. As a result one- 
 fourth of her people were kept in bondage, 
 and the woman who was not a slave was 
 the chattel of her husband or father. In 
 vain do we look through the laws of Lycur- 
 gus, of Solon or of Pericles for even a 
 suggestion of that broad and humane 
 principle of statesmanship which guar- 
 antees to all citizens absolute equality of 
 civil and political rights, with a corre- 
 sponding obligation of the government to 
 protect each and all citizens in the exer- 
 cise of those rights. 
 
 The Greek was never at his best as a 
 statesman, even when the civilization and 
 
66 Great Americans 
 
 culture of Greece were in their meridian 
 splendor, which was about five hundred 
 years before the dawn of the Christian 
 era. He was rather at his best when, with 
 chisel or brush, he was carving a statue 
 or painting a figure, gradually conform- 
 ing it to an intellectual conception of 
 physical beauty, not surpassed, or even 
 equalled, to this day. Or, when compet- 
 ing in the building of a glorious tragedy, 
 using his language as a tool, polishing and 
 developing it to such a degree of perfec- 
 tion that it became and still is the un- 
 rivalled medium for the expression of 
 thought, however sublime the image or 
 delicate the idea. And in the realms of 
 philosophy and speculation, no country 
 can present greater names than those of 
 Socrates and Plato. But in the concep- 
 tion, development and application of those 
 broad, humane and enlightened prin- 
 ples of constructive statesmanship to a 
 representative form of government, such 
 as we have in the United States, the 
 American statesman stands pre-eminent. 
 
Abraham Lincoln 67 
 
 But however glorious the services of 
 Mrs. Stowe and her co-laborers in behalf 
 of universal freedom, the Temple of 
 Liberty was, even so late as 1860, still left 
 with the flaw which it bore when she 
 first put forth her famous book. Who was 
 to remove the flaw? Who was to perfect 
 the Temple? Who was to put it into that 
 condition conceived by Jefferson so as to 
 make it establish the purposes of the Dec- 
 laration of Independence, among them 
 the freedom of all men, and their absolute 
 equality before the law? The time was 
 coming when such a service had to be 
 rendered or the Temple would be split 
 from top to bottom. 
 
 When a great personage is needed, 
 Providence, it seems, supplies the need. 
 Out in Illinois was a man not disobedient 
 to his spiritual vision, obeying his "psy- 
 chological moment" to the very letter. He 
 was telling a big man by the name of 
 Douglas, and the people of his state and 
 the people of the whole nation, that "a 
 house divided against itself cannot stand ; 
 a nation half slave and half free cannot 
 endure." 
 
68 Great Americans 
 
 These were divine truths. The people 
 of his state listened. The nation listened. 
 He was made President of the United 
 States. He put an end to a four years' 
 war. He put an end to slavery. He be- 
 came the greatest man in the nation. He 
 was honored by the whole world. Count- 
 less multitudes bowed their heads and 
 wept when informed that he was dead. 
 His portrait illumines the stateliest as 
 well as the humblest of homes. It deco- 
 rates every art gallery in America. It 
 hangs with that of Washington in the 
 leading galleries of Europe. His name is 
 an inspiration to the old and to the young, 
 to every aspiring youth, to every down- 
 trodden soul; an encouragement to the 
 poor, the humble ; a check upon the proud, 
 the haughty ; a prophecy and fulfillment of 
 what a man may become when his boy- 
 hood is ennobled with work and a desire 
 to improve and become useful and great, 
 and in his maturity he continues to strive 
 after his ideals with perseverance to the 
 end. 
 
 What name in the Temple of Fame is 
 
Abraham Lincoln 69 
 
 the highest of all? Is it not the name of 
 Abraham Lincoln? 
 
 We deem it a fitting close to these "Psy- 
 chological Moments" to quote the beauti- 
 ful tribute paid to the great Emancipator, 
 of whom it might be said, as Jonson said 
 of Shakespeare: 
 
 **He was not of an age, but for all time." 
 
 by the late Henry W. Grady, a brilliant 
 son of Georgia, a peerless orator and edi- 
 tor, the idol of his state, the pride of the 
 nation, a splendid example of the genius 
 and aspirations of his people, a noble wit- 
 ness of the grandeur of the achievements 
 of the American statesman, and of the 
 American soldier, rejoicing in his citizen- 
 ship in an indissoluble Union of inde- 
 structible States, at the annual dinner of 
 the New England Society, held in New 
 York City on the evening of December 
 12, 1886 — his truly "psychological mo- 
 
70 Great Americans 
 
 menf' — when he spoke, in part, as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 "Let me tell you that the typical 
 American has already come. Great 
 types, like valuable plants, are slow to 
 flower and fruit. But from the union 
 of these Colonies, Puritans and Cava- 
 liers, from the straightening of their 
 purposes and the crossing of their 
 blood, slow perfecting through a cen- 
 tury, came he who stands as the first 
 typical American, the first who com- 
 prehended within himself all the 
 strength and gentleness, all the majesty 
 and grace of this Republic : — Abraham 
 Lincoln. He was the sum of Puritan 
 and Cavalier, for in his ardent nature 
 were found the virtues of both, and in 
 the depths of his great soul the faults 
 of both were lost. He was greater than 
 Puritan, greater than Cavalier, in that 
 he was American, and that in his honest 
 form were first gathered the vast and 
 thrilling forces of his ideal government, 
 charging it with such tremendous mean- 
 
Henry W. Grady 71 
 
 ing, and so elevating it above human 
 suffering, that martyrdom, though in- 
 famously aimed, came as a fitting crown 
 to a life consecrated from the cradle to 
 human liberty. Let us, each cherishing 
 the traditions and honoring his fathers, 
 build with reverent hands to the type 
 of this simple but sublime life, and in 
 our common glory as Americans there 
 will be plenty and to spare for your 
 forefathers and for mine." 
 
 Three years later Henry W. Grady, at 
 the age of thirty-eight, was himself num- 
 bered among the illustrious dead.