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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
d eftefcted tlie Iropea of man , and bad overthrow ^ tfejmbKcs , remained to be htiated otft , exposed , and guarded against . The nfcost powerful of these was the concentration and perpetuation of wealth in the hands of
particular families , and the creation thereby of an overweening aristocracy . The fatal influence of this principle had been felt in all ages and in all countries . The feeling- of pride and haughtiness which wealth is so well calculated to engender , and the homage which mankind aTe unhappily so
much dishonoured by rendering to it , causes the perpetuation of large fortunes , in the hands of families , the most fearful antagonist to human liberty . Marcus Crassus had said , that the man who aspired to rule a republic should not be content until be had mastered wealth sufficient to
maintain an army , and Julius Caesar paved the way to the overthrow of Roman liberty by the unsparing distribution , from his inexhaustible stores , of largesses to the people- Mr .
Jefferson saw , therefore , the great necessity for reformation in our municipal coae ; and the Act abolishing entails , and that regulating descents , are , in all their essential features , the
offspring of his well-constituted intellect . He has acted throughout on the great principle of the equality of mankind , and his every effort has been directed to the preservation of that equality among his countrymen . How powerful in its operation is our descent law in producing this effect ! Founded on
the everlasting principle of justice , it distributes among all his children the fruits of the parent ' s labour . The first-born is no longer considered the chosen of the Lord , but nature asserts her rights , and raises the last to an
equality with the first . Thus it is that the spirit of a proud independence , so auspicious to the durability of our institutions , is engendered in the bosoms of our citizens . Thus it
is that we are under the influence of an Agrarian law in effect ; while nature , instead of being violated , is protected ; and industry , instead of being suppressed , is excited by new stimuli
. —The great lawgiver of Sparta w vain sought to perpetuate the principle of equality amongst the citizens ° t that renowned Republic , by various Measures , all of which ultimately fail-
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ed but here is a measure which can * not fail—a measure which depends not upon j veneration for the charatfte * of any cin < i man , but lays hold df the affections , and records its own perpetuity in the great volume of nature
—a measure which will every day more conspicuously developeits beau * ties : one , without which the blood shed in the Revolution would have been shed in vain—without which the
glories of that struggle would fade away , or exist but as another proof of man ' s incapacity for self-government . What more shall I say of it ? May I not call it that great measure which ,
to our political , like the sun to our planetaty , system , imparts light and heat , unveils all its beauties , and manifests its strength ? Tell me , then , ye destinies that controul the future , say , is not this man's fame inscribed m
adamant ? Say , men of the present age , ye lovers of liberty , ye shining lights from amid the gloom of the world , say , does Virginia claim too much when she pronounces her Jefferson wiser than the lawgivers of antiquity ? Tell me , then , men of America , have you not lost your
father , your benefactor , your best friend ? And you , the men of other countries , where the light of his example is now but dimly seen , you , who constitute the salt of the earth , will you not kindle your lamps in the mighty blaze of his fkme , and distribute the blessings of his existence around you ?
Here , then , I might stop . The cause of this mournful procession i& explained—the picture might be considered as perfect—his claim to the gratitude of mankind is made manifest ^ and his title to immortality is esta ^ - blished . But his labours did not het <*
cease . I have still to exhibit hiiq t 6 you in other lights than those in whidi we have regarded him—to present other claims to your veneration and gratitude . Passing over those incidents which his history has already recorded , let us regard him while in that station which I now fill , more by
the kindness of the public , than from any merit of my own . We here recognize in him the able vindicator of insulted America , against the sarcasms of European philosophy . Indulging in the visions of a fallacious theory , it was attempted to be proved , that the flush and glovv which nature assumed
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Jefferson t $ nd Adams . 64 £
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1826, page 643, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2554/page/7/
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