On this anniversary of
the Declaration of Independence, let us remember and vow never to forget
that when it becomes general or popular among us, as it has become
common, to flout at the Declaration and its principles; whenever the
nation commits itself to courses which for the sake of consistency and
respectability invite and compel its disparagement; when our politics
does not match our poetry and cannot be sung; when Washington and
Jefferson and Sumner and Lincoln cease to be quoted in our cabinet and
at our helm, then it is not well with us, but ill, and it is time to
study the compass.
It is right to say, and let us remember it on this sacred anniversary,
as an inspiration to duty, that Boston has been the center of the two
great movements in our history, the movement which gave us independence
and the movement which purged the land of slavery. If we could rear on
Boston Common a monument upon which, around the central form of Samuel
Adams, should be grouped the figures of James Otis and John Adams, John
Hancock and Joseph Warren and their associates, how much that monument
would represent of what was most dynamic in the days which led up to the
American Revolution! If we could rear beside it a monument upon which,
around the central figure of William Lloyd Garrison, should stand
Wendell Phillips, Parker and Channing, Lowell and Emerson, Sumner and
Andrew, how much would be represented by that group of what was most
potent in the anti-slavery struggle! When the final history is written
of the great social and industrial revolution into which we have already
far advanced, and which will continue until there exists throughout the
republic an industrial equality as great as the political equality which
we now enjoy or claim to enjoy, it will be seen that here, too, Boston
has done her conspicuous part.
Pages:
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466