To that fixed standard it is sought, at this
time, when we are drifting far from the initial point, and when clouds
and darkness hover over us, to bring back the Government, and to test
our condition to-day by the rules which our fathers laid down for us in
the beginning.
The differences which exist between different portions of the country,
the rivalries and the jealousies of to-day, though differing in degree,
are exactly of the nature of those which preceded the formation of the
Constitution. Our fathers were aware of the different interests of the
navigating and planting States, as they were then regarded. They sought
to compose those difficulties, and, by compensating advantages given by
one to the other, to form a Government equal and just in its operation,
and which, like the gentle showers of heaven, should fall twice blessed,
blessing him that gives and him that receives. This beneficial action
and reaction between the different interests of the country constituted
the bond of union and the motive of its formation. They constitute it
to-day, if we are sufficiently wise to appreciate our interests, and
sufficiently faithful to observe our trust. Indeed, with the extension
of territory, with the multiplication of interests, with the varieties,
increasing from time to time, of the products of this great country, the
bonds which bind the Union together should have increased. Rationally
considered, they have increased, because the free trade which was
established in the beginning has now become more valuable to the people
of the United States than their trade with all the rest of the world.
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