esses which I neither
aimed at nor anticipated. Fortune, by which I understand Providence, has
showered blessings upon me profusely. But they have been blessings
unforeseen and unsought. "Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da
gloriam!" I ought to have been taught by it three lessons:--1. Of
implicit reliance upon Providence. 2. Of humility and humiliation; the
thorough conviction of my own impotence to accomplish anything. 3. Of
resignation; and not to set my heart upon anything which can be taken
from me or denied.

THE MISSION OF AMERICA

From his Fourth of July Oration at Washington, 1821

And now, friends and countrymen, if the wise and learned philosophers of
the older world, the first observers of nutation and aberration, the
discoverers of maddening ether and invisible planets, the inventors of
Congreve rockets and shrapnel shells, should find their hearts disposed
to inquire, What has America done for mankind? let our answer be
this:--America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence
as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human
nature, and the only lawful foundations of government. America, in the
assembly of nations, since her admission among them, has invariably,
though often fruitlessly, held forth to them the hand of honest
friendship, of equal freedom, of generous reciprocity. She has uniformly
spoken among them, though often to heedless and often to disdainful
ears, the language of equal liberty, equal justice, and equal rights.
She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a single
exception, respected the independence of other nations, while asserting
and maintaining her own. She has abstained from interference in the
concerns of others, even when the conflict has been for principles to
which she clings, as to the last vital drop that visits the heart. She
has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of that
Aceldama, the European World, will be contests between inveterate power
and emerging right. Wherever the standard of freedom and independence
has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions,
and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to
destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.
She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will recommend
the general cause, by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant
sympathy of her example. She