During the first half of the nineteenth century, champions and opponents of various constitutional theories met each other's views and moves squarely and forcefully. So many of these moves concerned legislation in state and nation that debates and speeches were frequent. Public discussion fostered a group of remarkable orators from both North and South, all of whom swayed voting audiences and molded general sentiment. The orator's fame in most cases is a temporary one- -his speech moves while it is being delivered, and even if it effect its purpose, it has little claim for further consideration. But several American statesmen were so honored by their contemporaries that knowledge of their opinions, careers, and speeches is essential today.

Representing the South were men who, following in the paths marked by such predecessors as Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, served their section and their country gloriously. John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) of South Carolina, Yale graduate, Senator, Vice-President, Secretary of War and of State, threw himself into the long series of debates between 1830 and 1850. He firmly believed in the doctrine of states' rights. He interpreted the Constitution strictly. His mind worked along severely logical, analytical lines. His reasoning was more prominent than his emotions. He appealed to men's intellects, to their thinking power, to their knowledge. Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina debated in the Senate with Webster, drawing from the more able man his celebrated Reply. The idol of the people was Henry Clay (1777-1852) of Kentucky. His personal magnetism and brilliant speech held audiences spellbound; his mental and bodily control impressed even his opponents. He believed in the Union and tried with all his power to reconcile the radically differing sections. Time and time again he advanced plans for adjustment; his compromise measures won for him the title of "the great pacificator." Striving mainly for the success of the moment, Clay did not plan his speeches as logically as others, nor did he express his ideas as carefully as he might. Readers now are not

attracted or held by his utterances as they appear in print. Yet everyone remembers with a conscious thrill his declaration, "I would rather be right than be president."

The North produced a group of famous speakers who were upon the other side in all the issues of the epoch. Wendell Phillips (1811-1884) represents the numerous abolitionist agitators. Eloquent, courageous, widely-read, he had the ability to sway audiences almost as he chose, frequently making them accept as their own, opinions of his which they would later repudiate. His absolute sincerity of belief in the cause he urged fired his utterances with enthusiasm. Edward Everett (1794-1865), a scholar of the old school, delighted audiences by lecturing to them. His style is typical of the old-fashioned oratory, in which sonority and dignity were sought by inflated vocabulary and involved sentences. His address on Washington was repeated almost one hundred times.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852). The most prominent of the New England orators was Daniel Webster, who rose from obscurity to fame by effort of will and perseverance. When he began to speak before juries, he imitated the old oratorical style, but he very soon noticed that while he made the best speeches, the other lawyer won the cases. He reformed his style, substituted simple, direct speech for ornate phrases, directed more effort to convincing than to "showing off," and thus vastly improved his pleas. As senator and public figure his speeches fall into two general groups-legislative debates and commemorative addresses. Of the first the famous example is the Reply to Hayne delivered in the Senate (1830), when Webster denied the right of a state to nullify a law passed by Congress, and explained the nature of our constitutional government. For years he was celebrated as the defender of the Constitution.

In occasional addresses Webster produced lasting literature. Two of these should be familiar to every Americanthe eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, delivered in 1826, and the First Bunker Hill Oration, 1825.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). It has already been observed that oratory rarely wins a place in the permanent literature of a people because it usually deals with matters of passing importance and depends for its effect on the voice and personality of the orator and on the emotions of an audience brought together for a special occasion. One result of this debt to voice, personality, and occasion is the style of expression that we sometimes call "oratorical." Often this word is used in a disparaging sense, as when we speak of a man as being a mere "orator" or of his style as "oratorical." As a matter of fact, sentences and paragraphs that are to be recited to an audience are necessarily different in many ways from the sort of prose composition that we find in books. We feel the presence of the oratorical style in the greatest masters of the art, in men like Webster, for example. Webster's magnificent voice and his commanding personality are matters now of tradition. His sentences do not sound, as we speak them, as they sounded when the master

uttered them. When we read them silently, as we read other prose, the effect is even more disappointing. What Webster lives for, to us, is for the interpretation he gave of some of America's ideals about government. These appeal to permanent elements in the American character, and because of these rather than because of his work considered as literature, he is included in our record.

With Abraham Lincoln, however, the case is different. There is no need here to review the events of his life: his birth in poverty in a log cabin in Kentucky, the continuance of poverty and struggle, first in Indiana and then in Illinois; his lack of formal education. The men of letters whose lives and works we have been studying were brought up, except Whittier, in comparative freedom from care and with every educational advantage, in communities settled and prosperous, often with promise of foreign travel and further education definitely assured. But Lincoln's boyhood was destitute of most of what we regard as the advantages of civilization.

He had a few books, good ones like the Bible, The Pilgrim's Progress, Aesop's Fables, Robinson Crusoe, and these he read over and over again. They are all books marked by simplicity of style, great concreteness of subject matter, and homely wisdom. These qualities Lincoln made his own, and they are, in part, the secret of his wonderful power.

Besides these books, the most powerful early influence upon Lincoln's life and writing was his experience among pioneers. Storekeeper, surveyor, country lawyer, he had the opportunity of learning the thoughts and lives of the men and women that make up the mass of our democracy. His later career in the legislature, in Congress, and as president during the greatest crisis in our history matured the power of realizing and giving expression to the thoughts of men. Here is one of the fundamental qualities of great literature. It does not depend, you see, upon a man's ability to express his own thoughts; he must also speak for his race, give expression to ideals, passions, questionings, that men and women everywhere feel.

Lincoln left abundant evidence of his effort to do this. Even as a boy he used to puzzle over things said by people in language that he could not understand, and he resolved that always he would speak so that even a boy could understand him. As a lawyer he followed the same method.

He studied a case until he could

look through the legal questions, the court decisions, and the statutes involved, into the real meaning of the problem. This he phrased with wonderful clearness and precision. The same is true, once more, of his state papers, written when he was president, and of all his speeches and writings about public affairs. At the Gettysburg commemoration in 1863, Edward Everett, a great orator, spoke for two hours. Lincoln delivered an address containing fewer than three hundred words. The polished oration is forgotten, but Lincoln's words are immortal because they phrased, in clearness and beauty, the noblest ideals of America.

These are the reasons, then, why Abraham Lincoln, lawyer and statesman, holds high place in any account of American literature; the reasons, also, why it is useful for anyone who wishes to learn to write what others will wish to read should study the life and writings of this man. He knew a few great books thoroughly. He knew and loved his fellow-men. He knew their language and their problems and ideals. Finally, he always studied simplicity of expression, studied how to phrase what his experience and keen insight showed him to be the truth. His very sympathy with the masses of men, with their perplexities in a time of trouble, gave rhythm, beauty, the fitting word. Thus his writings are not merely state papers, orations, letters; they are also literature.

SACRED OBLIGATIONS

We are not propagandists. Wherever other systems are preferred, either as being thought better in themselves, or as better suited to existing conditions, we leave the preference to be enjoyed. Our history hitherto proves, however, that the popular form is practicable, and that with wisdom and knowledge men may govern them10 selves; and the duty incumbent on us is to preserve the consistency of this

cheering example, and take care that nothing weaken its authority with the world. If, in our case, the representative system ultimately fail, popular governments must be pronounced impossible. No combination of circumstances more favorable to the experiment can ever be expected to occur. The last hopes of mankind, 201 therefore, rest with us; and if it should be proclaimed that our example had become an argument against the experiment, the knell of popular

the world from this hall. I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here and framed and adopted that Declaration. I have pondered over the toils that were en10 dured by the officers and soldiers of the army who achieved that independence. I have often inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of separation of the colonies from the motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty not alone to the people of this country, 20 but hope to all the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved on that basis? If it

can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can help 30 to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.

Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no neces- 40 sity for it. I am not in favor of such a course; and I may say in advance that there will be no bloodshed unless it is forced upon the government. The government will not use force, unless force is used against it.

My friends, this is wholly an unprepared speech. I did not expect to be called on to say a word when I came here. I supposed I was merely to do 50 something toward raising a flag. I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet. But I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by.

Webster

Sacred Obligations. 1. This passage is found near the close of Webster's oration, "The Bunker Hill Monument," delivered June 17, 1825. Lafayette was present at the laying of the cornerstone of the monument on that day.

2. This selection, and indeed the entire oration from which it is taken, helps to define and interpret the nation as a great man reviewed the history of the first half century of our national existence. Observe that the first paragraph refers to the feeling still present in America in Webster's time, and in Europe as well, that democratic government might not be able to stand. In the second paragraph Webster shows that free government is an American principle. Why is this point important? In the third paragraph he names the sacred obligations that rested on his generation and that will rest

on yours when you and your classmates are voting citizens.

Lincoln

From Address in Independence Hall. These paragraphs, from a speech delivered by Lincoln just before his inauguration, find the basis of the Union in the Declaration of Independence. Review the selection from the document (page 440), and also review what Webster said to the effect that the principle of free government is inherent in the American soil. Thus you have a series of interpretations of the meaning of America.

Theme Topics. 1. My sacred obligations and how I can fulfill them. 2. A speech I have. heard, or read, recently in support of some cause.

Library Reading. Webster's Bunker Hill Oration; Selections from Lincoln (Lake English Classics).