I claim him for America. In all the perils, in every darkened moment of
the state, in the midst of the reproaches of enemies and the misgivings
of friends, I turn to that transcendent name for courage and for
consolation. To him who denies or doubts whether our fervid liberty can
be combined with law, with order, with the security of property, with
the pursuits and advancement of happiness; to him who denies that our
forms of government are capable of producing exaltation of soul, and the
passion of true glory; to him who denies that we have contributed
anything to the stock of great lessons and great examples;--to all these
I reply by pointing to Washington!
FOOTNOTE:
[32] From the Second Bunker Hill Oration, delivered June 17, 1843.
SIX GREAT TRIUMPHS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN ORATORY
The selections under this division are taken from speeches which
represent six of the greatest victories in the history of American
eloquence: (1) Patrick Henry before the Virginia Convention, (2)
Alexander Hamilton before the New York Convention, (3) Daniel Webster in
Reply to Hayne in the Senate, (4) Wendell Phillips on the Murder of
Lovejoy, (5) Abraham Lincoln in his debates with Douglas, and (6) Henry
Ward Beecher in his speeches in England in defence of the American
Union.
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