Author : Horace Mann
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781330741900
Total Pages : 40 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (419 download)
Book Synopsis Speech of Hon. Horace Mann by : Horace Mann
Download or read book Speech of Hon. Horace Mann written by Horace Mann and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-07-05 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Speech of Hon. Horace Mann: On the Right of Congress to Legislate for the Territories of the United States, and Its Duty to Exclude Slavery Therefrom, Delivered in the House of Representatives, in Committee of the Whole, June 30, 1848 Mr. Chairman: - I have listened with interest, both yesterday and to-day, to speeches on what is called the "Presidential question." I propose to discuss a question of far greater magnitude - the question of the age - one, whose consequences will not end with the ensuing four years, but will reach forward to the setting of the sun of time. Sir, our position is this: The United States finds itself the-owner of a vast region of country at the West, now almost vacant of inhabitants. Parts of this region are salubrious and fertile. We have reason to suppose that, in addition to the treasures of wealth which industry may gather from its surface, there are mineral treasures beneath it - riches garnered up of old in subterranean chambers, and only awaiting the application of intelligence and skill to be converted into the means of human improvement and happiness. These regions, it is true, lie remote from our place of residence. Their shores are washed by another sea, and it is no figure of speech to say that another sky bends over them. So remote are they, that their hours are not as our hours, nor their day as our day; and yet, such are the wonderful improvements in art, in modern times, as to make it no rash anticipation that before this century shall have closed, the inhabitants on the Atlantic shores will be able to visit their brethren on the Pacific, in ten days; and that intelligence will be transmitted and returned, between the Eastern and the Western oceans, in ten minutes. That country, therefore, will be rapidly filled, and we shall be brought into intimate relations with it; and, notwithstanding its distance, into proximity to it. Now, in the providence of God, it has fallen to our lot to legislate for this unoccupied, or but partially occupied, expanse. Its great Future hangs upon our decision. Not only degrees of latitude and longitude, but vast tracts of time - ages and centuries - seem at our disposal. As are the institutions which we form and establish there, so will be the men whom these institutions, in their turn, will form. Nature works by fixed laws; but we can bring this or that combination of circumstances under the operation of her laws, and thus determine results. Here springs up our responsibility. One class of institutions will gather there, one class of men who will develope one set of characteristics; another class of institutions will gather there, another class of men who will develope other characteristics. Hence, their futurity is to depend upon our present course. Hence the acts we are to perform, seem to partake of the nature of creation, rather than of legislation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
