ren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their
own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold
such interposition in any form with indifference. If we look to the
comparative strength and resources of Spain and those new Governments,
and their distance from each other, it must be obvious that she can
never subdue them. It is still the true policy of the United States
to leave the parties to themselves, in the hope that other powers will
pursue the same course.

If we compare the present condition of our Union with its actual state
at the close of our Revolution, the history of the world furnishes no
example of a progress in improvement in all the important circumstances
which constitute the happiness of a nation which bears any resemblance
to it. At the first epoch our population did not exceed 3,000,000.
By the last census it amounted to about 10,000,000, and, what is more
extraordinary, it is almost altogether native, for the immigration
from other countries has been inconsiderable At the first epoch half
the territory within our acknowledged limits was uninhabited and a
wilderness. Since then new territory has been acquired of vast extent,
comprising within it many rivers, particularly the Mississippi, the
navigation of which to the ocean was of the highest importance to the
original States. Over this territory our population has expanded in
every direction, and new States have been established almost equal in
number to those which formed the first bond of our Union. This expansion
of our population and accession of new States to our Union have had the
happiest effect on all its highest interests. That it has eminently
augmented our resources and added to our strength and respectability
as a power is admitted by all. But it is not in these important
circumstances only that this happy effect is felt. It is manifest that
by enlarging the basis of our system and increasing the number of
States the system itself has been greatly strengthened in both its
branches. Consolidation and disunion have thereby been rendered equally
impracticable. Each Government, confiding in its own strength, has less
to apprehend from the other, and in consequence each, enjoying a greater
freedom of action, is rendered more efficient for all the purposes
for which it was instituted. It is unnecessary to treat here of the
vast improvement made in the system itself by the adoption of this
Constitution and of its happy