These, with written descriptions, were published during the years 1827 to 1853 in a series of volumes called "The Birds of America," "Ornithological Biography," and "The Quadrupeds of America." The last was completed and finally published by his sons after his death. "The Birds of America," with "The Ornithological Biography," constitutes a very unique and priceless work. It was necessarily very costly, but it was sold in surprisingly large numbers, and gave its author a very high place in the scientific world. The combination of naturalist, artist, and writer was a rare one and produced a rare result.

The theological discussions of the period have left their mark in Literature chiefly in the writings of William Ellery Channing, the great leader of the William Unitarian movement. He was in his youth a mem

Samuel Hopkins,
His works were

Ellery Channing, born in

Rhode

Island, 1780;

died in Vermont, 1842.

ber of the congregation of Dr. mentioned in a previous chapter. of wide influence in the religious thought of the time, and have been repeatedly republished by the official publishing society of the Unitarian denomination. Thus the parts of them which really belong to Literature have not been separated from the mass of controversial matter. They are full, however, of passages of eloquent discussion and strong reasoning. Channing was one of the great preachers of his day; and so with him we naturally pass to the study of the great oratorical group of the period, Oratory. a group which has not been equalled in our history.

The Constitution of our country has one peculiarity which has involved a great deal of discussion.

That is the relation between the State and the National Governments. General Garfield said that "Unsettled questions have no respect for the repose of nations"; and our fathers left the question of the relative powers of State and Nation unsettled. Thus there have always been two great parties in our politics divided by their view of these relative powers. Under various names, the political parties have really been Federal Government or State Government parties. Questions of tariff, currency, and internal improvements have largely turned upon interpretations of the rights and powers of the general Government. Closely connected with the same central problem was the question of slavery. Slaves were held in large numbers in the Southern States; in comparatively small numbers, or not at all, in the Northern. As the Southern leaders sought for means and grounds of defence for slavery, they naturally fell back upon the right of the State to control its own institutions. As Northern leaders sought for means of restricting slavery, of preventing its extension, of gradually securing its abolition, they as naturally maintained the right of the general Government to act in a matter which seemed to them to concern the interests of all. We can easily see that these questions would demand the greatest ability for their discussion. In connection with them issues were sure to arise which would intensely engage the feelings of the people. The question of slavery especially, whenever it was discussed, aroused great bitterness. Statesmen foresaw that it might

bring the two great sections of the country into armed conflict; and the greatest and most patriotic men were endeavoring to handle it in such a way that conflict might be avoided; while the fervent feeling of men on both sides was constantly forcing it into prominence. These are some of the important conditions out of which the oratory of the time arose.

chusetts,

1794; died,

1865.

Edward Everett represents, in a moderate medi- Edward Everett, born ating way, the Federal view. He began life as a in MassaUnitarian minister, became professor of Greek at Harvard College, of which he was afterwards president; was active in politics, in the House of Representatives, as governor of Massachusetts, as United States senator, as Secretary of State, and as minister to England. But his greatest fame was gained by set orations delivered for special objects. Especially famous was the oration on Washington, delivered a great many times, by which a large sum of money was earned for the purchase and preservation of Mount Vernon, Washington's home on the Potomac. Everett is our greatest example of the finished, polished orator. Rounded periods, classical allusions, and elegant diction are his characteristics. In these respects he is preeminent, and his works. will always repay careful study.

He

born in Virginia,

Rep

1777; died

The representative of the Federal idea in the Henry Clay, Southern States is Henry Clay of Kentucky. was for many years a leader in the House of resentatives and in the United States Senate, and held Cabinet office. Like some other popular fa

in Washington, D. C.,

1852.

John C. Calhoun, born in

South Caro-
lina, 1782;
died in

Washington,
D. C., 1852.

Daniel

Webster,

1782; died

in Massa

vorites, however, he did not succeed in reaching the Presidency. He stood in the popular mind especially as the representative of the idea or policy of "Protection to American Industries," or, as he called it, "The American System," and of "Internal Improvements." His eloquence was largely dependent upon his voice and personal presence; and he has not left as interesting specimens of his oratory as have his great contemporaries.

The representative of the extreme state rights He view is John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. was one of the leaders in our politics for a generation. In the House of Representatives and in the Senate, as a Cabinet officer and as Vice-President, he was prominently before the people. He was the great logician of the Senate. Granting his premises, it was seldom possible to deny his conclusions. In weight of argument his oratory is probably unexcelled. It did not have the rhetorical brilliancy of Everett, nor the fiery force of Clay. But neither of these great men could have met him successfully in debate. That was reserved for the last and greatest of this remarkable group.

Daniel Webster is by general consent given the born in New first place among American orators. Like the others Hampshire, of this famous group, he served in Congress, in the Senate, and in the Cabinet, but never reached the Presidency. He is the great expounder of the Constitution, maintaining the power of the general Government, as opposed to Calhoun's extreme state rights view.

chusetts, 1852.

He was a man of extraordinary per

sonal presence. The impression he made in his great addresses is said to have been overpowering. He was strong in forensic as in political oratory. In the famous Dartmouth College case, it is said that he achieved the wonderful result of moving the judges of the Supreme Court to tears. His bestknown speech was made in reply to Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina, who had made, in the Senate, an attack upon Massachusetts. On such a

subject Webster could speak with the deepest feeling; and this often-quoted address is perhaps the most famous bit of oratory in American Literature. A short passage from it will repay special study.

Mr. President, I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts; she needs none. There she is. Behold her, and judge for yourselves. There is her history; the world knows it by heart. The past, at least, is secure. There is Boston, and Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker Hill; and there they will remain forever. The bones of her sons, falling in the great struggle for Independence, now lie mingled with the soil of every State from New England to Georgia; and there they will lie forever. And, sir, where American Liberty raised its first voice, and where its youth was nurtured and sustained, there it still lives, in the strength of its manhood and full of its original spirit. If discord and disunion shall wound it, if party strife and blind ambition shall hawk at and tear it, if folly and madness, if uneasiness under salutary and necessary restraint, shall succeed in separating it from that Union, by which alone its existence is made sure, it will stand, in the end, by the side of that cradle in which its infancy was rocked; it will stretch forth its arm with whatever of vigor it may still retain over the friends who gather around it; and it will