Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of
America, and the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln. Here were
planted the same seeds of righteousness victorious which later
flourished with such abundance at Saratoga, at Gettysburg, and at the
second battle of the Marne. Stupendous results, the product of a people
working with an everlasting purpose.

While celebrating the history of Westfield, this day has been set apart
to the memory of one of her most illustrious sons, General William
Shepard. To others are assigned the history of your town and the
biography of your soldier. Into those particulars I shall not enter. But
the principles of government and of citizenship which they so well
represent, and nobly illustrate, will never be untimely or unworthy of
reiteration.

The political history of Westfield has seen the success of a great
forward movement, to which it contributed its part, in establishing the
principle, that the individual in his rights is supreme, and that
"governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed."
It is the establishment of liberty, under an ordered form of government,
in this ancient town, by the people themselves, that to-day draws us
here in admiration of her achievements. When we turn to the life of her
patriot son we see that he no less grandly illustrated the principle,
that to such government, so established, the people owe an allegiance
which has the binding power of the most solemn obligation.

There is such a disposition in these days to deny that our Government
was formed by, or is now in control of, the people, that a glance at the
history of the days of General Shepard is peculiarly pertinent and
instructive.