AT a time when the civil and religious liberties of mankind are threatened with annihilation; when anarchy, like a torrent, is rushing forth upon the world, sweeping down in its terrible course, what the combined wisdom of ages hath erected; when attempts are made to undermine even the altars of God himself, it must afford peculiar pleasure to the real friends of equal liberty and equal laws, to behold the free-born sons of America, assembling together, to commemorate the birth-day of their Independence, in a manner becoming Freemen and Christians.

As Freemen, it becomes us on every anniversary of this day, to recal to our minds our duty to our country, to make it a day, not for vain boasting or unmeaning noise and confusion, but for reflection.

As Christians, we are called on to set it apart as a day of thanksgiving; on which we ought to render to the [Page 4] great Creator of the Universe, our sincere and unfeigned thanks, for the numberless blessings he has bestowed upon us; but in a more especial manner, to express our grati­tude to the giver of all good gifts, for the Liberty and Independence of our Country.

It has long been a question, which as yet has never received a satisfactory answer, whether men are capable of their own choice of establishing and maintaining a system of government, calculated to promote their wel­fare and happiness, or are to be forever dependent upon force or accident for their political constitutions.

To America the eyes of the Philanthropist have been turned, for such a solution of this question, as should silence the enemies of equal liberty, and establish the happiness of mankind, upon a firm and lasting basis. Here he has seen the grand spectacle of a people, in time of profound peace, assembling together by their representatives, for the purpose of considering by what form of a political constitution they should be governed.—He has seen those representatives, after a mature deli­beration, undisturbed by any domestic faction, unawed by any foreign foe, form a constitution upon the purest principles of rational liberty, eminently calculated to promote the happiness of the people, and affording am­ple protection to their rights.—He has beheld the peo­ple themselves, after the strictest investigation of its principles, actuated by the purest motives of patriotism, adopt this constitution for their political government; [Page 5] and with all the joy and confidence of triumphant vir­tue, conceiving the truth of those noble principles of justice for which he had so long contended, as fully established—He has cited America, as an instance of a great people by their own choice, forming a system for their own government, and has, with an ardent hope, ever produced by an enthusiastic zeal, looked forward to the day, when governments, no longer founded in injustice, or supported by ignorance, should every where prove a blessing to the people—when the nations of the old world, following the example set them in the new, should establish one general system of politics, which should pervade all nations, and have for its object, the happiness of mankind.

If the establishment of our constitution was an event at which the friends of liberty had so much, and just reason to rejoice, how much must that joy have been encreased by the happy and truly astonishing effects pro­duced by it?

A flourishing agriculture—an increasing commerce—growing manufactures, and daily improvement in the arts and sciences, were among the first effects produced by our Federal Government, and were justly considered as forerunners to a state of prosperity and happiness, pow­er and respectability; and in the course of a few years, although in its infancy, our country has arrived to an importance among the nations of the world, which far [Page 6] exceeds the most sanguine wishes of its best friends, and astonishes and confounds its greatest enemies.

The establishment of our Independence, and the adop­tion of our Constitution, were events of the greatest im­portance, not only to ourselves, but to mankind; and the manner in which those events were brought about, justly excited the approbation of every friend of human happiness: But, my fellow-citizens, it still remains ob­scured by a cloud of uncertainty, whether we shall be able to maintain that Independence so nobly established, and that Constitution so happily adopted!

It is a principle inseparable from the very idea of a republican government, that a majority of the people should govern a minority; and this principle is not only acknowledged by our Constitution, but is the founda­tion on which it is erected: The will of the people is the fountain from which all the lawful power and authority of the government proceeds; the voice of the majority is the channel through which that will is conveyed from the fountain to the great reservior of the sacred stream—our Constitution—from which it again proceeds by dif­ferent outlets, watering and giving new vigor to that earth from which it at first proceeded—Once destroy this principle, and you destroy your government—Stop the channel by which the will of the people proceeds to the constituted authorities, and you at once destroy all the good effects proceeding from that constitution, which then must become a dead letter—a standing [Page 7] pool, which, instead of producing any benign effects, will give birth to plague and pestilence; and instead of being a blessing, must prove a curse to the country.—This principle cannot be too strongly impressed upon our minds; if it is once controverted and denied; if a minority refuse to comply with measures pursued by a majority, and oppose, instead of cheerfully assisting to carry into execution those measures, there is an end to our constitution, and with it, will end, our republican system of government, our happiness, and perhaps, our very existence as an independent nation. Let me en­treat you, with all the earnestness which a sincere love of country, and a fervent desire for its welfare and hap­piness naturally inspires, never to lose sight of this great and all important principle; but more especially at this awful crisis, when our government and our indepen­dence, are in imminent danger. Formed by nature, with different tempers, dispositions and inclinations; differ­ing in our opinions upon the most common and trivial occurrences in life, it could never be supposed we should agree in opinion, as to the propriety of the important measures of our government.—But the government of the United States, is the government of a majority of the American people; a sacred duty is therefore im­posed upon us to unite, like a band of brothers, to sup­port that government and its measures, and if we do not sacredly perform that duty, we are a ruined people—If we divide from our government—if we withdraw [Page 8] from it our support—if we listen without indignation to the insulting threats and unwarrantable pretences of a foreign nation, and in short, if we do not manfully rally round the standard of our independence, and thereby manifest to the world, our determination to preserve our Constitution and Freedom, with our lives and for­tunes, we deserve not to be free. I wish you my fellow-citizens, seriously to reflect upon our situation—on the unanimity of Americans much, every thing, now depends—The eyes of all the world are upon us; let us then lay aside that party spirit which has already disgraced our country, and given birth to the insulting epithet of "a divided people"—ever remembering, that our govern­ment must receive its best support from the good opin­ion and affection of the citizens—Let us carefully avoid giving currency to any thing which has a tendency to destroy that good opinion, or weaken that affection.—Being brothers—born in the same land—enjoying the fruits of the same happy Constitution—all equally wish­ing the happiness and welfare of our country, let us cul­tivate a brotherly affection as citizens, and in case the pride, insolence and rapacity of an insulting and over­bearing nation, shall drive us to the last extremity, we shall be the better enabled, as Brother Soldiers, to defend our lives, our liberties and our properties. If we take the other course—if a party spirit is encouraged, and spreads its baneful influence throughout the country—if we suffer ourselves to abuse the worthy patriots who [Page 9] now lead our national councils—if we attempt to des­troy the well-earned confidence of the people, in our no­ble chief, and if instead of cultivating a brotherly affec­tion, we look upon one another with the eyes of hatred, we invite insults—we lay ourselves open to the invasion of foreigners, and we must in the end, sacrifice our Liber­ty and Independence.

With a government of our own choice, protecting all our great rights—with a code of laws, mild beyond ex­ample and with a holy religion, inculcating every princi­ple of morality and justice, we enjoy every blessing which it is in the power of any people to enjoy, under any government. To boast to others of our situation, might perhaps be considered as unnecessary, if not in­sulting; but when our own government is threatened with annihilation and destruction, it is certainly highly proper and commendable, for Americans to ask them­selves, what blessings they now enjoy, and what they would risk in case of a change?

Turn your eyes around you—view the map of the world, and place a finger on the land which is happier than our own. Let the greatest enemy of our admira­ble Constitution, search it with the eyes of an Argus, and he cannot find the spot. Our own happiness is in our own hands. Providence has given us blessings pe­culiar to ourselves, and if we give them up—if without a struggle, we sacrifice our Liberty and Independence at the shrine of foreign influence and intrigue, and our [Page 10] holy religion on the altars of vice and atheism, what have we to hope for? Can we with any prospect of success, look up to an offended God for protection? After disre­garding and forgetting his fatherly kindness—after suf­fering ourselves to be robbed by a race of infidels of the most invaluable blessings he has bestowed upon us, shall we dare to ask for his mercy? Pause my country­men before it be too late, and reflect on our situation! We are on the brink of a precipice, down which, all the unruly and sinful passions of our nature are fast urging us, into a dark and wide opening gulph, which threatens with destruction our individul happiness—our political welfare, and our religious liberty; and unless we all unite hand and heart, to resist the torrent, we must in­evitably be swallowed up in the all ingorging gulph! Let us not suffer ourselves to be lulled into a fatal secu­rity. It has ever been the practice of Satan, to win to his purpose by artful insinuation and vile deceit, those upon whom his attempts would otherwise have been vain.

To you, my young friends and companions, I would address myself particularly at this time—You have al­ready, in a laudable manner, expressed your confidence and reliance in the wisdom, firmness and patriotism of the great and good man, who at present holds the high­ly responsible office of Chief Magistrate of the Union—Let that confidence encrease—cherish it as highly ho­norable [Page 11] to yourselves and your country. To possess the most implicit confidence in men of tried integrity and honor—to place a firm reliance in the patriotism of men of distinguished virtue, is certainly worthy of the patri­otic and independent Youth of America. Suspect the motives of those who would persuade you, he is not the friend of his country. Your fathers, in their glorious struggle for Independence, entrusted him with the man­agement of some of their dearest interests, and he de­ceived them not, but proved worthy of the trust. It will be a great object in our enemies to destroy our confidence in him, and it should be as great an object in us, to retain that confidence unimpaired, as a great, if not the only means to secure our national independence and happiness.—Yes, virtuous man, worthy patriot and venerable statesman, we have a confidence in thee, which all the vile insinuations—base and unfounded assertions of the most slanderous and seditious, never can destroy—and we pray that that eternal God, who hath hither­to protected our nation, may still lead you to pursue your country's welfare, with a steady and unshaken mind—and when this painful life is o'er, to receive you in the mansions of bliss, there to enjoy the reward of a life well spent in the cause of truth and justice.

Our Independence is a sacred inheritance handed down to us by our fathers, not for our own use only, but for our posterity—Let us never therefore suffer it to be impaired—as we have received it, so let us transmit [Page 12] it to our children, a goodly inheritance, unpolluted and unimpaired—Let us consider our lives as valuable, on­ly, as they afford us the means of supporting and de­fending our country—and let us rather nobly die in de­fence of our Independence, than linger out a life of slave­ry, under a foreign yoke. On the youth of the coun­try the burden of its defence ought to rest; we are there­fore loudly called on, to prepare ourselves to meet our enemies, whenever they dare to invade us, and thereby convince them and the whole world, that placing a manly trust in the protection of Heaven, America will be, and remain, a Free and Independent Nation, or leave not a SON to witness her Disgrace.