hostile attack shall at any time be made or
threatened.

And this extension of territory embraced within the United States,
increase of its population, commerce, and manufactures, development
of its resources by canals and railroads, and rapidity of
intercommunication by means of steam and electricity, have all been
accomplished without overthrow of, or danger to, the public liberties,
by any assumption of military power; and, indeed, without any permanent
increase of the army, except for the purpose of frontier defence, and of
affording a slight guard to the public property; or of the navy, any
further than to assure the navigator that, in whatsoever sea he shall
sail his ship, he is protected by the stars and stripes of his country.
This, too, has been done without the shedding of a drop of blood for
treason or rebellion; while systems of popular representation have
regularly been supported in the State governments and in the general
government; while laws, national and State, of such a character have
been passed, and have been so wisely administered, that I may stand up
here to-day, and declare, as I now do declare, in the face of all the
intelligent of the age, that, for the period which has elapsed from the
day that Washington laid the foundation of this Capitol to the present
time, there has been no country upon earth in which life, liberty, and
property have been more amply and steadily secured, or more freely
enjoyed, than in these United States of America. Who is there that will
deny this? Who is there prepared with a greater or a better example? Who
is there that can stand upon the foundation of facts, acknowledged or
proved, and assert that these our republican institutions have not
answered the true ends of government beyond all precedent in human
history?

There is yet another view. There are still higher considerations. Man is
an intellectual being, destined to immortality. There is a spirit in
him, and the breath of the Almighty hath given him understanding. Then
only is he tending toward his own destiny, while he seeks for knowledge
and virtue, for the will of his Maker, and for just conceptions of his
own duty. Of all important questions, therefore, let this, the most
important of all, be first asked and first answered: In what country of
the habitable globe, of great extent and large population, are the means
of knowledge the most generally diffused and enjoyed among the people?
This question admits