CHAPTER XXXII.

PRESENT AND FUTURE CONDITION OF THE UNITED STATES.

HAVING thus traced the leading political measures and events of this Confederate Republic for fifty years, let us, before we take leave of the subject, examine how far the Government has, during that period, fulfilled the purposes of the legislators who gave it being.

Its progress, in the outward marks of national greatness, has realized the fondest hopes of the patriot, and has exceeded that of any other people recorded in the annals of mankind. Its numbers have increased, from less than 4,000,000, in 1790, to 17,000,000, in 1840; its annual exports, from $29,000,000 to $107,000,000; its imports, from $19,000,000 to $132,000,000; its shipping, from 502,000 tons to 2,130,000 tons; and its revenue, from $4,500,000 to $17,000,000.

It has shown that it has the ability to defend itself from foreign and domestic foes. It has been at war with the most powerful nations of Europe. Against both it acquired glory at sea; and, against Great Britain, reputation both in the field and on the ocean. It did more than any other nation in putting an end to the longcontinued piracy of the Barbary States in the Mediterranean; and, while it repressed the hostilities of the Indians within its own limits, it taught them husbandry, and other useful arts, so as to prepare them for civilization.

It has, in carrying its complex system of polity into execution, encountered those difficulties which necessarily arise in the interpretation of every written Constitution. These, after having produced temporary agitation, have passed away. Of this character were the questions of a protecting tariff, and of the power of making roads and canals.

During the same period, the General Government has been brought into collision with several of the States — with South Carolina, the New England States, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and some others. Twice these points of disagreement, or of State discontent, have led to insurrection, which was promptly put down, attended with little or no bloodshed, and followed by no sanguinary punishment.

Party spirit has, indeed, commonly prevailed to an extent which has greatly diminished the peace and harmony of social intercourse, sometimes from discordant. opinions on the general principles of government, and sometimes from local jealousies, or a diversity of local interests. But this agitation of the public mind is not an uncompensated evil. It contributes to preserve the political institutions from corruption or decay. It produces vigilance in one party, caution in the other, and a salutary emulation in both.

The territory was doubled by the purchase of Louisiana, and has since been almost quadrupled by the acquisition of Florida, Texas, and the Mexican Provinces. The number of States has increased from thirteen to thirty

one.

Amid these abundant sources of national congratulation, it is proper to notice that, in two or three particulars, the Federal Constitution has not acted according to the designs and wishes of its framers. Thus, it being

presumed, in the Convention which framed it, that the election of the Chief Magistrate would prove a source of civil discord, from the probable diversity of local and personal preferences, this constituted one of the most difficult and perplexing subjects submitted to the deliberation of that body; and, when it was proposed to vote for two persons one not of the same State as the Elector-without designating which was to be President, and which Vice-President, the proposition was received with general and most lively favor. The very cordial welcome it met with does not appear in the reported debates, but is known only by tradition from the members themselves. Yet, such is the inherent uncertainty of constitutional provisions, until they are tested by experiment, that this plausible scheme was soon found, on a Presidential election, to produce an alarming state of confusion and public anxiety, threatening not merely great popular disappointment, but even civil violence. It was, therefore, one of the only two amendments made to the Constitution since that instrument went into operation.

The expedient of choosing these officers by the intervention of Electors, is another constitutional provision which has failed to act according to the purposes of the Convention. It was assumed that the people at large, who were regarded as the safest depositories of the power, would, in the exercise of it, be biassed by local and personal considerations. But they were considered very competent to choose Electors, who, it was presumed, would possess the knowledge of individuals, and impartiality, which their constituents wanted. Besides, this mode of election seemed to afford security against the intrigues of foreign nations, such as had so generally and so dangerously interfered in the election of a King of VOL. IV.-26

Poland. It was not then foreseen that the voters, in choosing Electors, would not give up the power they possessed, and that they would vote only for those Electors who would conform to the wishes of the people. This oversight now seems strange to us, especially as, in ordinary elections, if there was any matter of engrossing interest to be decided, the candidate was expected and required to declare his sentiments, and to give pledges of his future course concerning it, before he received the support of the voters.

In point of fact, the election of President and VicePresident, though nominally made by the Electoral Colleges, is always substantially made by the people in the primary assemblies; and this mode of election, by which a choice is made circuitously, that may as well be made directly by the popular vote, seems to remain a harmless abortion of the Constitution. Yet there may arise cases in which the provision may not be utterly useless; as if public sentiment had undergone a sudden and undoubted change, in the interval between the choice of the Electors and their votes, in which case they might venture to change the votes which they had pledged themselves to give. So, where death had removed the candidates for whom the Electors were pledged to vote.

There seems to be yet a third case in which the Constitution has not afforded the expected security against future mischief. When that instrument was formed, it was foreseen that the slaves held in one-half of the Union would occasionally seek a refuge in other States; and, to secure the holders from this loss, so seriously affecting their welfare, a provision was made to prevent this municipal regulation in one State from being annulled in another; that such fugitive, on being reclaimed, should be delivered up. But this provision has

proved entirely insufficient for its purpose; and, so far from being always executed with good faith, it has often provoked the active animosity of other States, and been made the theme of bitter reproach.

Having noticed the leading features of our progress in fifty years, as a Confederacy, let us now advert to those other characteristics of civilization, which are wholly or principally under the control and regulation of the individual States as religion, morals, literature, and man

ners.

In two important particulars, religion is here placed on a footing different from that of other countries: it is entirely free from all legal restraint, and it is supported altogether by voluntary contribution. What are the consequences of these peculiarities?

It is not perceived that they have lessened the devotional spirit. This seems to be so congenial to the nature of man, that it does not require to be enforced by the Government. That provision which is made, in most countries, for the support of religion, is a consequence of man's religious propensity, rather than a cause of his active exercise of it.

The strength of this propensity in the United States is evinced by the number of the places of worship, of officiating ministers, and of their respective congregations. It appears, by the census of 1850, when these enumerations were first made by the Government, that, in a population of 23,000,000, the number of churches, or places of worship, was 38,000, affording accommodation for more than 14,000,000 of persons, and possessed of property to the amount of $89,000,000;1 of regular ministers, 26,800. There were, in 1850, 44 theological schools, instructing 1351 students. Their annual com

De Bow's Compendium, page 138.