ighs
the destinies of nations.

The conclusion of the revolutionary war did not conclude the great
achievements of our countrymen. Their military character was then,
indeed, sufficiently established; but the time was coming, which should
prove their political sagacity.

No sooner was peace restored with England, the first grand article of
which was the acknowledgment of our Independence, than the old system of
confederation, dictated, at first, by necessity, and adopted for the
purposes of the moment, was found inadequate to the government of an
extensive empire. Under a full conviction of this, we then saw the
people of these States, engaged in a transaction, which is, undoubtedly,
the greatest approximation towards human perfection the political world
ever yet experienced; and which, perhaps, will forever stand on the
history of mankind, without a parallel. A great Republic, composed of
different States, whose interest in all respects could not be perfectly
compatible, then came deliberately forward, discarded one system of
government and adopted another, without the loss of one man's blood.

There is not a single government now existing in Europe, which is not
based in usurpation, and established, if established at all, by the
sacrifice of thousands. But in the adoption of our present system of
jurisprudence, we see the powers necessary for government, voluntarily
springing from the people, their only proper origin, and directed to the
public good, their only proper object.

With peculiar propriety, we may now felicitate ourselves, on that happy
form of mixed government under which we live. The advantages, resulting
to the citizens of the Union, from the operation of the Federal
Constitution, are utterly incalculable; and the day, when it was
received by a majority of the States, shall stand on the catalogue of
American anniversaries, second to none but the birth day of
Independence.

In consequence of the adoption of our present system of government, and
the virtuous manner in which it has been administered, by a WASHINGTON
and an ADAMS, we are this day in the enjoyment of peace, while war
devastates Europe! We can now sit down beneath the shadow of the olive,
while her cities blaze, her streams run purple with blood, and her
fields glitter, a forest of bayonets!--The citizens of America can this
day throng the temples of freedom, and renew their oaths of fealty to
Independence; while Holland, our once sister