field in which the experiment is to be made, of what the unfettered powers
of man may achieve; of the bright page of history which our fathers have
filled, and of the advantages under which their toils and virtues have
placed us for carrying on their work;--when we think of all this, can we
help, for a moment, surrendering ourselves to bright visions of our
country's glory before which all the glories of the past are to fade away?

Is it presumption to say that, if just to ourselves and all nations, we
shall be felt through this whole continent, that we shall spread our
language, institutions, and civilization, through a wider space than any
nation has yet filled with a like beneficent influence? And are we prepared
to barter these hopes, this sublime moral empire, for conquests by force?
Are we prepared to sink to the level of unprincipled nations, to content
ourselves with a vulgar, guilty greatness, to adopt in our youth maxims and
ends which must brand our future with sordidness, aggression, and shame?
This country cannot, without peculiar infamy, run the common race of
national rapacity. Our origin, institutions, and position are peculiar, and
all favor an upright honorable course.

Why cannot we rise to noble conceptions of our destiny? Why do we not feel,
that our work as a nation is to carry freedom, religion, science, and a
noble form of human nature over this continent? And why do we not remember,
that to diffuse these blessings we must first cherish them in our own
borders; and that whatever deeply and permanently corrupts us, will make
our spreading influence a curse, not a blessing, to this new world? I am
not prophet enough to read our fate. I believe, indeed, that we are to make
our futurity for ourselves. I believe, that a nation's destiny lies in its
character, in the principles which govern its policy, and bear rule in the
hearts of its citizens. I take my stand on God's moral and eternal law. A
nation, renouncing and defying this, cannot be free, cannot be great.