8661. UNION (The Federal), Cultivate.—
Our lot has been cast by the favor of
heaven in a country and under circumstances
highly auspicious to our peace and prosperity,
and where no pretence can arise for the degrading
and oppressive establishments of Europe.
It is our happiness that honorable distinctions
flow only from public approbation;
and that finds no object in titled dignitaries
and pageants. Let us, then, endeavor carefully
to guard this happy state of things, by
keeping a watchful eye over the disaffection
of wealth and ambition to the republican principles
of our Constitution, and by sacrificing
all our local and personal interests to the cultivation
of the Union, and maintenance of the
authority of the laws.—
R. to A. Penna. Democratic-Republicans. Washington ed. viii, 163.
(1809)
