A STUDY
OF THE
AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH
AS REFLECTED BY
ORATIONS OF BURKE AND WEBSTER
WITH HISTORICAL, INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY
NOTES, QUESTIONS AND REFERENCES FOR
COLLATERAL READING
BYPROFESSOR
J. A. WOODBURN
INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY, BLOOMINGTON, IND.
AND
PROFESSOR
CYRUS W. HODGIN
EARLHAM COLLEGE, RICHMOND, IND.
BOSTON, U.S.A.
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS
1893
COPYRIGHT, 1893,
BY D. C. HEATH & CO.
Norwood Press:
J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith.
Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
CONTENTS.
- General Introduction 1
- To the Teachers 2
- Controversy between the Mother Country and the Colonies 5
- The Politics and Oratory of Burke 16
- Introductory Note to the Speech on American Taxation 23
- Analysis of the Speech on American Taxation 23
- Speech on American Taxation 25
- Notes to the Speech on American Taxation 96
- Introductory Note to the Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies 101
- Analysis of the Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies 104
- Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies 107
- Notes to the Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies 189
- Review Questions on Burke's Speeches and the American War 194
- Sources for the Study of Burke and the Controversy with the Colonies 198
- Introduction to the Study of Webster and his Masterpieces 201
- The Man and the Period 201
- Characterization of Webster 207
- Questions 206
- 214
- Introductory Note to the Speech in the Dartmouth College Case 215
- Analysis of the Speech in the Dartmouth College Case 225
- Speech in the Dartmouth College Case 229
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- Notes on the Speech in the Dartmouth College Case 264
- Bibliography of the Dartmouth College Case 267
- Topics and Questions on the Dartmouth College Case 268
- Introductory Note to the Oration on the Bunker Hill Monument 271
- Bibliography of the Bunker Hill Monument 276
- Analysis of the Oration on the Bunker Hill Monument 277
- The Oration on the Bunker Hill Monument 278
- Notes on the Oration on the Bunker Hill Monument 304
- Topics and Questions on the Oration on the Bunker Hill Monument 307
- Introductory Note to the Reply to Hayne 309
- Bibliography of the Reply to Hayne 317
- Analysis of the Reply to Hayne 319
- The Reply to Hayne 320
- Notes on the Reply to Hayne 409
- Topics and Questions on the Reply to Hayne 415
- Introductory Note to the Reply to Calhoun 419
- Bibliography of the Reply to Calhoun 425
- Analysis of the Reply to Calhoun 426
- The Reply to Calhoun: The Constitution not a Compact between Sovereign States 428
- Notes on the Reply to Calhoun 505
- Topics and Questions on the Reply to Calhoun 507
- Introductory Note to the Speech on the Constitution and the Union 509
- The Speech on the Constitution and the Union 519
- Supplementary Note 574
- Bibliography 582
- General Bibliography for the Study of Webster 583
GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
THE Reading Circle Board has had two purposes in view in the selection of these orations as part of the work of the Teachers' Reading Circle. One of these is the personal culture of the teachers, and the other is the welfare of the boys and girls, and through them, of the state and nation. That the boys and girls may obtain from the study of American History those ideals that will make them self-governing men and women, who can safely be trusted to exercise the high functions of citizenship, the teachers must have such a breadth of grasp upon the facts and principles of our history in their unity as will enable them to give to the young people genuine insight into their rights and duties as citizens.
There is no greater need in our government, to-day, than statesmen,—men who thoroughly comprehend the true end of our national life, who make this the organizing idea of all governmental action, and who have the wisdom and ability to employ appropriate means for securing the great end. Such statesmen must come from the ranks of our common-school boys and girls, and they must come through the hands of our common-school teachers. It becomes, therefore, an imperative necessity that the teachers shall possess the highest and clearest ideals possible to them, of statesmanship and citizenship. It is with the belief that these orations will help the teachers to such ideals, that they have been selected.
page: 2[View Page 2]In a free government oratory has always been of the greatest value, and must always continue to be if reason is to prevail against force. It is of especial importance that both the statesman and the ordinary citizen should study the best models of eloquence,—models in which is exemplified close, logical reasoning, based upon sound premises, and from which all logical tricks and mystifying verbiage have been excluded. The statesman needs a knowledge of such models in order to use it effectively for the instruction of his constituents; the ordinary citizen needs it to protect himself against the influence of the quack in politics. There has been a vast deal of tinkering experiment in state and national legislation,—much of it honest, some of it not, but still detrimental—for want of genuine statesmen in our legislative halls.
TO THE TEACHERS.
The teacher who faithfully studies these orations will find himself greatly benefited in two directions. It must be kept in mind that these productions are literature, and the mastery of their matter and style will bring no small amount of literary culture. They are also history, and their study with the aid of the accompanying notes and references will throw a flood of light upon our Revolutionary and Constitutional History.
The historical notes, introducing the orations, give the essential antecedent facts, and will enable the teacher to create for himself the circumstances under which each was delivered. This will lend something of the effect of a personal participation in the occasion.
The analyses briefly set forth the main lines of the argument followed by the orators, but in most cases the subordinate page: 3[View Page 3] details are left for the teachers to work out for themselves by their own study.
The notes following the orations are intended to throw light upon such points as are not sufficiently explained in the text to make plain the full meaning of the orator. Teachers are urged, so far as possible, to make the references indicated. In this way a much broader view may be obtained than could be presented within the limits of this book. A habit of tracing references is one of great value to any one, and is especially valuable to teachers and students.
The topics and questions will assist in reviewing and fixing the leading points in the orations, but it will be to the advantage of the teacher to enlarge the lists for himself. These questions may be used with profit in the history and civics classes. Nothing that gives the teacher new light, and broader views of his subject, will fail to reappear in his work in the school room. His study of Burke will, so to speak, give him a seat in the British Parliament, and enable him to watch the great debates on the two questions discussed in the two orations of Burke here presented.
The study of Webster enables the teacher to watch the growth of the ideal of national unity, and the supremacy of national law. The classes in History and Civil Government will feel the inspiration obtained by the teacher, and every lesson will have a greater interest to every member of the class, because of the deeper interest of the teacher; but the thing most desired by the Board, and by those who have prepared the book, is that higher conceptions of statesmanship, citizenship and patriotism will find their way into the minds of the boys and girls, and reappear later in a higher type of national life.
C. W. H.
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