But, fourthly, it is due to the nation and age to which you belong,
that you fix upon a high standard of character. This work is intended
for American youth. _American!_ did I say? This word, alone, ought to
call forth all your energies, and if there be a slumbering faculty
within you, arouse it to action. Never, since the creation, were the
youth of any age or country so imperiously called upon to exert
themselves, as those whom I now address. Never before were there so
many important interests at stake. Never were such immense results
depending upon a generation of men, as upon that which is now
approaching the stage of action. These rising millions are destined,
according to all human probability, to form by far the greatest nation
that ever constituted an entire community of freemen, since the world
began. To form the character of these millions involves a greater
amount of responsibility, individual and collective, than any other
work to which humanity has ever been called. And the reasons are, it
seems to me, obvious.

Now it is for you, my young friends, to determine whether these weighty
responsibilities shall be fulfilled. It is for you to decide whether
this _greatest_ of free nations shall, at the same time, be the _best_.
And as every nation is made up of individuals, you are each, in
reality, called upon daily, to settle this question: 'Shall the United
States, possessing the most ample means of instruction within the reach
of nearly all her citizens, the happiest government, the healthiest of
climates, the greatest abundance of the best and most wholesome
nutriment, with every other possible means for developing all the
powers of human nature, be peopled with the most vigorous, powerful,
and happy race of human beings which the world has ever known?'

There is another motive to which I beg leave, for one moment, to direct
your attention. You are bound to fix on a high standard of action, from
the desire of obeying the will of God. _He_ it is who has cast your lot
in a country which--all things considered--is the happiest below the
sun. _He_ it is who has given you such a wonderful capacity for
happiness, and instituted the delightful relations of parent and child,
and brother and sister, and friend and neighbor. I might add, _He_ it
is, too, who has given you the name _American_,--a name which alone
furnishes a passport to many civilized lands, and like a good
countenance, or a becoming dress, preposse