0471217107 - download.e-bookshelf.de · Acknowledgments It has been my great pleasure in compiling...

Innodata
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Book of Great American Speeches for

Young People

Edited by Suzanne McIntire

John Wiley amp Sons IncNew York bull Chichester bull Weinheim bull Brisbane bull Singapore bull Toronto

reg

MS FM 41601 352 PM Page i

For my children Phinney and Will

Copyright copy 2001 by Suzanne McIntire All rights reserved

American Heritage and the eagle logo are registered trademarks of American Heritage Inc Their use is pursuant to a license agreement

Published by John Wiley amp Sons Inc

Design and production by Navta Associates Inc

No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopyingrecording scanning or otherwise except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without either the prior written permissionof the Publisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center 222 Rosewood Drive Danvers MA 01923(978) 750-8400 fax (978) 750-4744 Requests to the Publisher for permission shouldbe addressed to the Permissions Department John Wiley amp Sons Inc 605 ThirdAvenue New York NY 10158-0012 (212) 850-6011 fax (212) 850-6008 e-mailPERMREQWILEYCOM

The publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information inregard to the subject matter covered It is sold with the understanding that the pub-lisher is not engaged in rendering professional services If professional advice orother expert assistance is required the services of a competent professional personshould be sought

This title is also available in print as ISBN 0-471-38942-0 Some content that appearsin the print version of this book may not be available in this electronic edition

For more information about Wiley products visit our web site at wwwWileycom

fcopyebkqxd 81501 952 AM Page ii

Acknowledgments

It has been my great pleasure in compiling this collection towork with dedicated historians and librarians of historical

societies and state and university libraries across the countrywho so willingly hunted up information often the same dayThere are too many to name here but their efforts were mostappreciated I must especially thank the librarians of Arling-ton Virginia particularly Dan Cannole Lynn Kristiansonand Diane Marton and Kristi Beavin of the Childrenrsquos RoomMore thanks go to Celia Blotkamp of the Northern VirginiaSpeech League the faculty of Potomac School especiallyCathy Farrell Christine Hunt Curt Bland and Dan NewmanCarol Fonteyn and Joe Lerner Lydia Schurman KirstenManges and Clyde Taylor and Kate Bradford and MichelleWhelan who had many good ideas for the book And myfamily who pitched in when I needed them

MS FM 41601 352 PM Page iii

Freedom of speech is indivisible You cannot deny it to one man and save it for others Over and over again the test of our

dedication to liberty is our willingness to allow the expression of ideas we hate If those ideas are lies the remedy is more speech

The price of liberty to speak the truth as each of us sees it is permitting others the same freedom

mdashArchibald Cox

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v

Contents

Introduction 1

Powhatan Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy (1609) 5To Captain John Smith

Big Mouth Onondaga Chief (1684) 7To De la Barre Governor of Canada

Andrew Hamilton (1735) 9In Defense of John Peter Zenger and the Freedom of the Press

Canasatego Onondaga Chief (1744) 12ldquoWe Will Make Men of Themrdquo

John Hancock (1774) 14On the Fourth Anniversary of the Boston Massacre

Logan Mingo Chief (1774) 16To Lord Dunmore

Patrick Henry (1775) 17ldquoGive Me Liberty or Give Me Deathrdquo

Solomon Stockbridge Chief (1775) 20ldquoWe Have Ever Been True Friendsrdquo

Samuel Adams (1776) 22To the Continental Congress

Benjamin Franklin (1787) 25To the Constitutional Convention

Jonathan Smith (1788) 28To the Massachusetts Convention

George Washington (1796) 31ldquoObserve Good Faith and Justice towards All Nationsrdquo

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vi Contents

Thomas Jefferson (1801) 34First Inaugural Address

Red Jacket Seneca Chief (1805) 36ldquoWe Never Quarrel about Religionrdquo

Tecumseh Shawnee Chief (1811) 39ldquoSleep Not Longer O Choctaws and Chickasawsrdquo

Pushmataha Choctaw Chief (1824) 42Welcome to Lafayette

Daniel Webster (1825) 43Bunker Hill Oration

Black Hawk Sauk Chief (1832) 46ldquoFarewell to Black Hawkrdquo

Sam Houston (1836) 49ldquoRemember the Alamordquo

Elijah Lovejoy (1837) 51In Defense of a Free Press

Angelina Grimke (1838) 53ldquoWhat Has the North to Do with Slaveryrdquo

Henry Highland Garnet (1843) 56The Call to Rebellion

Lewis Richardson (1846) 58ldquoMy Grave Shall Be Made in Free Soilrdquo

Thomas Corwin (1847) 61Against War with Mexico

Frederick Douglass (1847) 64ldquoIf I Had a Country I Should Be a Patriotrdquo

Henry Clay (1850) 67A Call for a Measure of Compromise

Sojourner Truth (1851) 69ldquoIf You Have Womanrsquos Rights Give Them to Herrdquo

MS FM 41601 352 PM Page vi

viiContents

Frederick Douglass (1852) 71ldquoWhat to the American Slave Is Your Fourth of Julyrdquo

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1854) 73On the Fugitive Slave Law

Seattle Duwamish Chief (1854) 76ldquoWe Will Dwell Apart and in Peacerdquo

Lucy Stone (1855) 79ldquoA Disappointed Womanrdquo

Abraham Lincoln (1858) 81ldquoA House Dividedrdquo

Stephen Douglas (1858) 83Sixth Lincoln-Douglas Debate

John Brown (1859) 85To the Court after Sentencing

William Lloyd Garrison (1859) 87On the Death of John Brown

Jefferson Davis (1861) 89Farewell to the Senate

Abraham Lincoln (1863) 91The Gettysburg Address

Abraham Lincoln (1865) 93ldquoWith Malice toward None with Charity for Allrdquo

Henry M Turner (1868) 95ldquoI Hold That I Am a Member of This Bodyrdquo

George Graham Vest (1870) 97Eulogy on the Dog

Cochise Chiricahua Apache Chief (1872) 99ldquoWe Will Remain at Peace with Your People Foreverrdquo

Susan B Anthony (1873) 101ldquoAre Women Personsrdquo

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viii Contents

Chief Joseph Nez Perce (1877) 104ldquoI Will Fight No More Foreverrdquo

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1892) 106ldquoThe Solitude of Selfrdquo

William Jennings Bryan (1896) 109ldquoA Cross of Goldrdquo

Russell Conwell (late 1890s) 112ldquoAcres of Diamondsrdquo

Harry Gladstone (1898) 116To the Machine Tenders Union

Mother Jones (1901) 117To the United Mine Workers of America

Florence Kelley (1905) 120ldquoFreeing the Children from Toilrdquo

Mark Twain (1906) 122ldquoIn Behalf of Simplified Spellingrdquo

Theodore Roosevelt (1910) 125Citizenship in a Republic

Rose Schneiderman (1911) 127On the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire

John Jay Chapman (1912) 129The Coatesville Address

Stephen S Wise (1914) 133Tribute to Lincoln

Woodrow Wilson (1915) 135ldquoAn Oath of Allegiance to a Great Idealrdquo

Anna Howard Shaw (1915) 137The Fundamental Principle of a Republic

Woodrow Wilson (1917) 140ldquoThe World Must Be Made Safe for Democracyrdquo

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ixContents

Emma Goldman (1917) 143ldquoFirst Make Democracy Safe in Americardquo

Eugene V Debs (1918) 146ldquoWhile There Is a Lower Class I Am in Itrdquo

Clarence Darrow (1924) 149In Defense of Leopold and Loeb

Alfred E Smith (1928) 153ldquoAnything Un-American Cannot Live in the Sunlightrdquo

Franklin D Roosevelt (1933) 155ldquoThe Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itselfrdquo

Lou Gehrig (1939) 158ldquoThe Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earthrdquo

Harold Ickes (1941) 160ldquoWhat Constitutes an Americanrdquo

Franklin D Roosevelt (1941) 162ldquoA Date Which Will Live in Infamyrdquo

Learned Hand (1944) 165ldquoThe Spirit of Libertyrdquo

Dwight D Eisenhower (1944) 167ldquoThe Eyes of the World Are upon Yourdquo

Franklin D Roosevelt (1944) 169The Fala Address

Douglas MacArthur (1944) 171ldquoPeople of the Philippines I Have Returnedrdquo

Roland Gittelsohn (1945) 173Eulogy at the Marine Corps Cemetery

Albert Einstein (1947) 176To the United Nations

Margaret Chase Smith (1950) 179ldquoThe Four Horsemen of Calumnyrdquo

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x Contents

William Faulkner (1950) 182ldquoI Decline to Accept the End of Manrdquo

Pearl Buck (1951) 184Forbidden to Speak at Cardozo High School Graduation

Charlotta Bass (1952) 187ldquoLet My People Gordquo

Richard Nixon (1952) 190The Checkers Speech

Martin Luther King Jr (1955) 192ldquoThere Comes a Time When People Get Tiredrdquo

Langston Hughes (1957) 194ldquoOn the Blacklist All Our Livesrdquo

Roy Wilkins (1957) 197ldquoThe Clock Will Not Be Turned Backrdquo

John F Kennedy (1961) 200ldquoAsk What You Can Do for Your Countryrdquo

Douglas MacArthur (1962) 204ldquoDuty Honor Countryrdquo

John F Kennedy (1963) 206ldquoLet Them Come to Berlinrdquo

Martin Luther King Jr (1963) 208ldquoI Have a Dreamrdquo

Charles B Morgan Jr (1963) 211ldquoFour Little Girls Were Killedrdquo

Earl Warren (1963) 214Eulogy for President John F Kennedy

Malcolm X (1964) 216ldquoThe Ballot or the Bulletrdquo

Barry Goldwater (1964) 220ldquoExtremism in the Defense of Liberty Is No Vicerdquo

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xiContents

Mario Savio (1964) 223ldquoHistory Has Not Endedrdquo

Lyndon Baines Johnson (1965) 225ldquoWe Shall Overcomerdquo

Adlai Stevenson (1965) 229To the United Nations

William Sloane Coffin Jr (1967) 231ldquoThe Anvil of Individual Consciencerdquo

Cesar Chavez (1968) 234ldquoGod Help Us to Be Menrdquo

J William Fulbright (1968) 236ldquoThe Focus Is Vietnamrdquo

Martin Luther King Jr (1968) 239ldquoIrsquove Been to the Mountaintoprdquo

Robert F Kennedy (1968) 242On the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr

Shirley Chisholm (1969) 245ldquoThe Business of America Is Warrdquo

Frank James (1970) 248On the 350th Anniversary of Plymouth

Archibald Cox (1971) 251ldquoThe Price of Liberty to Speak the Truthrdquo

Barbara Jordan (1974) 253ldquoMy Faith in the Constitution Is Wholerdquo

Richard Nixon (1974) 256ldquoI Shall Resign the Presidencyrdquo

Silvio Conte (1975) 258ldquoI Must lsquoRaise a Beefrsquo about This Billrdquo

Dr Seuss (1977) 260Commencement Address at Lake Forest College

MS FM 41601 352 PM Page xi

Esther Cohen (1981) 261At the Liberators Conference

Samantha Smith (1983) 263ldquoLook Around and See Only Friendsrdquo

Ronald Reagan (1986) 266To the Nation on the Challenger Disaster

Thurgood Marshall (1987) 268On the Bicentennial of the Constitution

Ronald Reagan (1987) 271ldquoMr Gorbachev Tear Down This Wallrdquo

Jesse Jackson (1988) 274To the Democratic National Convention

Daniel Inouye (1993) 276To the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team

Cal Ripken Jr (1995) 279To His Fans

Charles S Robb (2000) 281ldquoThey Died for That Which Can Never Burnrdquo

Appendix To the Young Speaker 285

Permissions 287

Photo Credits 288

Index of Speakers 289

Index of Themes 291

xii Contents

MS FM 41601 352 PM Page xii

Introduction

ldquoIs life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery Forbid it Almighty God I

know not what course others may take but as for me give me liberty or give me deathrdquo

mdashPatrick Henry (1775)

A mericans in every century have found inspiration in thespeech-making of Patrick Henry His daring address to

the Virginia Convention in Richmond with its famous call torevolution persuaded the assembled delegates to arm the Vir-ginia militia to resist British oppression and could have costhim his life had the British won the Revolutionary War

Some forty years after Patrick Henryrsquos address FrederickDouglass was born He was a Maryland slave who would alsofight for his freedom and for the freedom of all slaves inAmerica He founded an anti-slavery newspaper and enteredpolitics but his great weapon was his speech-making

As a boy he owned a book not unlike the one yoursquore nowholding which he bought with the few pennies a slave boycould save The book was called The Columbian Orator andcontained speeches to teach schoolchildren the art of publicspeaking The speeches exposed him to exciting ideas aboutliberty and equality ldquoEvery opportunity I got I used to readthis bookrdquo he explained in his autobiography Althoughyoung Frederick was never allowed to go to school he musthave learned from the book for he became one of the greatestorators the United States ever produced When he escapedfrom slavery the book was one of the few things he took withhim

1

MS FM 41601 354 PM

2 Great American Speeches for Young People

Oratory such as that of Patrick Henry or Frederick Dou-glass flourishes wherever you find freedom of speech a rightguaranteed to Americans by the Constitution but withheldfrom many people of the world who live under dictatorshipsand totalitarian governments Events in United States his-torymdashslavery war womenrsquos rights child labor the atomicbomb to mention a fewmdashhave always supplied issues todebate The American town meeting gave people with ideas aplace to be heard And in the days before TV or radio thespeeches of the popular frontier ldquostump speakerrdquo (who stoodon a tree stump to speak) were attended by whole familieswho traveled miles by wagon to enjoy the scene

Over a hundred great speeches by Americans are gatheredtogether in this new book of oratory for a new generation ofyoung people The selection spans almost four centuries ofthe best of American eloquence from Powhatanrsquos warning toCaptain John Smith in 1609 to Senator Charles Robbrsquosthoughtful reflection in the year 2000 on the meaning of theflag

But what is eloquence Eloquence is the power to persuadewith forceful and fluent speech It relies on passion andstraightforwardness for its influence over a crowd When weread these speeches we begin to understand why a Chicagonewspaper reported that people fought in the halls to get intothe courtroom to hear Clarence Darrow speak and why Mar-tin Luther King wept on hearing President Johnson exclaimldquoWe shall overcomerdquo We can almost see in our mindrsquos eye thethousand tomahawks that early frontiersmen saw brandishedby the impassioned hearers of Tecumseh Sometimes the pas-sion is for a special person or people instead of a cause suchas the moving tributes to Lincoln and Lafayette to the menwho fought and died at Gettysburg and Iwo Jima and to thefour innocent girls who died in the bombing of a Birming-ham Alabama church

MS FM 41601 354 PM Page 2

Eloquence always comes from the heart and depends littleon a formal education as true for self-taught Abraham Lin-coln as it was for Frederick Douglass Unschooled Americanslaves did much for the anti-slavery cause through theirspeech-making Native Americans possessed one of theworldrsquos richest oratorical traditions despite or because ofhaving no written language Theirs were governments thatrelied on oral persuasion with leaders like Big Mouth andRed Jacket who were recognized as great orators not only bytheir tribes but also by the Europeans who first encounteredthem

You may notice that there are few female speakers beforethe 1900s in this collection Women first had to fight for theright to address an audience before they could speak for thereforms (like abolition and womenrsquos rights) they hoped to winFor a woman to deliver an address before men remainedalmost scandalous until 1890 When we read this book frombeginning to end we are watching among other things theexciting spectacle of women black Americans and otherminorities breaking free of the laws and traditions that boundthem

One hundred and fifty years after Frederick Douglass pub-lic speaking is still an important skill for leaders of any ageThe young people whose speeches appear occasionally in thenewsmdashHarry Gladstone and Samantha Smith are two in thisbookmdashhave found a way to get their passion for reformbefore the world We hope these speeches inspire you todayin the same way Frederick Douglass was stirred by the greatorators of the past to speak out yourself for what you believe in

3Introduction



5

Powhatan Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy

To Captain John SmithJamestown Virginia

1609

The first colonists in Jamestown Virginia arrived from England in 1607 Build-ing homes and finding food in the New World was difficult and those who sur-vived the first winters owed their lives to the help they received from the manytribes of the Powhatan Confederacy However the settlers took lands for their ownuse that the Indians considered theirs and disputes arose over the trading of food and weapons Chief Wahunsonacock (called Powhatan by the colonists) the father of Pocahontas warned Captain John Smith against abusing the Indiansrsquo friendship

I am now grown old and must soon die and the successionmust descend in order to my brothers Opitchapan Ope-

kankanough and Catataugh and then to my two sisters andtheir two daughters I wish their experience was equal tomine and that your love to us might not be less than ours toyou

Why should you take by force that from us which you canhave by love Why should you destroy us who have providedyou with food What can you get by war We can hide ourprovisions and fly into the woods and then you must conse-quently famish by wronging your friends What is the cause ofyour jealousy You see us unarmed and willing to supply yourwants if you will come in a friendly manner and not withswords and guns as to invade an enemy

I am not so simple as not to know it is better to eat goodmeat lie well and sleep quietly with my women and childrento laugh and be merry with the English and being theirfriend to have copper hatchets and whatever else I want

speeches 5-203 41601 401 PM Page 5

than to fly from all to lie cold in the woods feed upon acornsroots and such trash and to be so hunted that I cannot resteat or sleep In such circumstances my men must watch andif a twig should but break all would cry out ldquoHere comesCaptain Smithrdquo and so in this miserable manner to end mymiserable life and Captain Smith this might be soon yourfate too through your rashness and unadvisedness

I therefore exhort you to peaceable councils and aboveall I insist that the guns and swords the cause of all our jeal-ousy and uneasiness be removed and sent away



7

Big Mouth Onondaga Chief

To De la Barre Governor of CanadaNew York State near Lake Ontario

September 1684

Big Mouth is the English translation of Grande Gueule the name thisOnondaga chief received from the French because he was such an impressivespeaker The Indians pronounced it Garangula The aged Big Mouth met in whatis now New York State with the French governor of Canada De la Barre (calledby the Indians Yonondio) who had crossed Lake Ontario with plans to make waron the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy Big Mouth knew that De laBarrersquos men were too sick to fight and he cautioned both De la Barre and NewYork governor Thomas Dongan (called by the Indians Corlear) to preserve thepeace At the end of his address he presented two beaded wampum belts to makehis speech official

Yonondio I honor you and the warriors that are with meall likewise honor you Your interpreter has finished your

speech I now begin mine My words make haste to reach yourears Hearken to them

Hear Yonondio What I say is the voice of all the FiveNations Hear what they answer Open your ears to what theyspeak The Senecas Cayugas Onondagas Oneidas andMohawks say that when they buried the hatchet atCadarackui in the presence of your predecessor in the mid-dle of the fort they planted the tree of peace in the sameplace to be there carefully preserved That in the place of aretreat for soldiers that fort might be a rendezvous for mer-chants that in place of arms and ammunition of war beaversand merchandize should only enter there

Hear Yonondio Take care for the future that so great anumber of soldiers as appear there do not choke the tree of



peace planted in so small a fort It will be a great loss if afterit had so easily taken root you should stop its growth andprevent its covering your country and ours with its branches Iassure you in the name of the Five Nations that our warriorsshall dance to the calumet of peace under its leaves Theyshall remain quiet on their mats and shall never dig up thehatchet till their brother Yonondio or Corlear shall eitherjointly or separately endeavor to attack the country which theGreat Spirit has given to our ancestors This belt preservesmy words and this other the authority which the FiveNations have given me


9

Andrew HamiltonIn Defense of John Peter Zenger

and the Freedom of the PressNew York CityAugust 4 1735

Andrew Hamilton born in Scotland practiced law in Maryland and was laterattorney general in Pennsylvania He defended John Peter Zenger printer andpublisher of the New York Weekly Journal when Zenger was arrested for libel-ing the royal governor of New York William Cosby The nearly 70-year-oldHamilton took the case because local lawyers were prevented from defendingZenger His eloquent defense convinced the jury that the published articles weretrue and thus not libelous and Zengerrsquos subsequent acquittal set an importantprecedent for freedom of the press in the colonies

May it please your honors I agree with Mr Attorney[Richard Bradley] that government is a sacred thing but

I differ very widely from him when he would insinuate thatthe just complaints of men who suffer under a bad adminis-tration is libeling that administration

There is heresy in law as well as in religion and both havechanged very much and we well know that it is not two cen-turies ago that a man would have burned as a heretic for own-ing such opinions in matters of religion as are publicly writtenand printed at this day I think it is pretty clear that in NewYork a man may make very free with his God but he musttake special care what he says of his Governor It is agreedupon by all men that this is a reign of liberty and while menkeep within the bounds of truth I hope they may with safetyboth speak and write their sentiments of the conduct of menof power were this to be denied then the next step maymake them slaves For what notions can be entertained of


slavery beyond that of suffering the greatest injuries andoppressions without the liberty of complaining

It is said and insisted upon by Mr Attorney that govern-ment is a sacred thing that it is to be supported and rever-enced it is government that protects our persons and estatesthat prevents treasons murders robberies riots and all thetrain of evils that overturn kingdoms and states and ruin par-ticular persons and if those in the administration especiallythe supreme magistrates must have all their conduct censuredby private men government cannot subsist This is called alicentiousness not to be tolerated It is said that it brings therulers of the people into contempt so that their authority isnot regarded

But I wish it might be considered at the same time howoften it has happened that the abuse of power has been theprimary cause of these evils and that it was the injustice andoppression of these great men which has commonly broughtthem into contempt with the people

If a libel is understood in the large and unlimited senseurged by Mr Attorney there is scarce a writing I know thatmay not be called a libel or scarce any person safe from beingcalled to account as a libeler for Moses meek as he waslibeled Cain and who is it that has not libeled the devil

The loss of liberty to a generous mind is worse than deathand yet we know there have been those in all ages who for thesakes of preferment or some imaginary honor have freely lenta helping hand to oppress nay to destroy their country Upon the other hand the man who loves his country prefersits liberty to all other considerations well knowing that with-out liberty life is a misery

Power may justly be compared to a great river while keptwithin its bounds it is both beautiful and useful but when itoverflows its banks it is then too impetuous to be stemmed itbears down all before it and brings destruction and desolationwherever it comes If then this be the nature of power let us



at least do our duty and like wise men who value freedomuse our utmost care to support liberty the only bulwarkagainst lawless power which in all ages has sacrificed to itswild lust and boundless ambition the blood of the best menthat ever lived

I cannot but think it mine and every honest manrsquos duty thatwhile we pay all due obedience to men in authority we oughtat the same time to be upon our guard against power wher-ever we apprehend that it may affect ourselves or our fellowsubjects

The question before the court and you gentlemen of thejury is not of small nor private concern it is not the cause of apoor printer nor of New York alone which you are now try-ing No It may in its consequence affect every free man thatlives under a British government on the main continent ofAmerica It is the best cause it is the cause of liberty

Every man who prefers freedom to a life of slavery will blessand honor you as men who have baffled the attempt oftyranny and by an impartial and uncorrupt verdict have laida noble foundation for securing to ourselves our posterityand our neighbors that to which nature and the laws of ourcountry have given us a rightmdashthe liberty of both exposingand opposing arbitrary power (in these parts of the world atleast) by speaking and writing truth

11Andrew Hamilton


12

Canasatego Onondaga Chief

ldquoWe Will Make Men of ThemrdquoLancaster Pennsylvania

July 4 1744

Canasatego was a spokesman for the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy (bet-ter known as the Five Nations before the admission of the Tuscarora in about1722) at the signing of the 1744 Treaty of Lancaster with Pennsylvania Mary-land and Virginia His tribe was then offered a chance by the Virginia Legisla-ture to send six of their young men to the College of William and Mary As heexplained to the Virginians the Native Americans had different ideas from thecolonists about what constituted a good education for the young

We know you highly esteem the kind of Learning taughtin these Colleges and the maintenance of our young

Men while with you would be very expensive to you We areconvinced therefore that you mean to do us Good by yourProposal and we thank you heartily But you who are so wisemust know that different Nations have different Conceptionsof things and you will not therefore take it amiss if our Ideasof this kind of Education happens not to be the same withyours

We have had some experience of it Several of our youngPeople were formerly brought up in the Colleges of theNorthern Provinces they were instructed in all your Sci-ences but when they came back to us they were bad Run-ners ignorant of every means of living in the Woods unableto bear either Cold or Hunger knew neither how to build aCabin take a deer or kill an enemy spoke our languageimperfectly were therefore neither fit for Hunters Warriorsnor Counsellors they were totally good for nothing


We are however not the less obliged for your kind Offerthorsquo we decline accepting it and to show our grateful Sense ofit if the Gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a Dozen of theirSons we will take great care of their Education instruct themin all we know and make Men of them

13Canasatego Onondaga Chief


14

John HancockOn the Fourth Anniversary of the Boston Massacre

Boston MassachusettsMarch 5 1774

John Hancock was a leading citizen of Massachusetts who became president of theContinental Congress and was the first signer of the Declaration of IndependenceIn the years leading up to the Declaration he spoke forcefully against Britishtreatment of the colonists and along with Samuel Adams he was wanted under aBritish warrant of arrest In this speech Hancock commemorated the fourthanniversary of the 1770 Boston Massacre in which King George IIIrsquos troops hadfired on unarmed citizens killing five Americans

It was easy to foresee the consequences which so naturallyfollowed upon [the king] sending troops into America to

enforce obedience to acts of the British Parliament which nei-ther God nor man ever empowered them to make It was rea-sonable to expect that troops who knew the errand they weresent upon would treat the people whom they were to subju-gate with a cruelty and haughtiness which too often buriedthe honorable character of the soldier in the disgraceful nameof an unfeeling ruffian

The [kingrsquos] troops upon their first arrival took possessionof our senate house and pointed their cannon against thejudgment hall and even continued them there whilst thesupreme court of juridicature for this province was actuallysitting to decide upon the lives and fortunes of the kingrsquos sub-jects Our streets nightly resounded with the noise of riot anddebauchery our peaceful citizens were hourly exposed toshameful insults and often felt the effects of their violenceand outrage But this was not all as though they thought itnot enough to violate our civil rights they endeavored


to deprive us of the enjoyment of our religious privileges to vitiate our morals and thereby render us deserving of destruction

I come reluctantly to the transactions of that dismal nightwhen in such quick succession we felt the extremes of griefastonishment and rage

Let this sad tale of death never be told without a tear letnot the heaving bosom cease to burn with a manly indignationat the barbarous story through the long tracts of future timelet every parent tell the shameful story to his listening chil-dren until tears of pity glisten in their eyes and boiling pas-sion shake their tender frames and whilst the anniversary ofthat ill-fated night is kept a jubilee in the grim court of pande-monium let all America join in one common prayer toHeaven that the inhuman unprovoked murders of the fifthof March 1770 planned by Hillsborough and a knot oftreacherous knaves in Boston and executed by the cruel handof Preston and his sanguinary coadjutors may ever stand inhistory without parallel

But what my countrymen withheld the ready arm ofvengeance from executing instant justice on the vile assassins May that generous compassion which often preservesfrom ruin even a guilty villain forever actuate the noble bos-oms of Americans But let not the miscreant host vainly imag-ine that we feared their arms No them we despised we dreadnothing but slavery Death is the creature of a poltroonrsquosbrain rsquotis immortality to sacrifice ourselves for the salvationof our country

We fear not death That gloomy night the pale-facedmoon and the affrighted stars that hurried through the skycan witness that we fear not death Our hearts which at therecollection glow with rage that four revolving years havescarcely taught us to restrain can witness that we fear notdeath and happy it is for those who dared to insult us thattheir naked bones are not now piled up an everlasting monu-ment of Massachusettsrsquo bravery

15John Hancock


Logan Mingo Chief

To Lord Dunmore Near Chillicothe Ohio

October 1774

Logan was long loyal to the colonists taking no part in the French and IndianWars But in May of 1774 when members of his family and tribe were killed bywhites near Wheeling West Virginia Loganrsquos tribe retaliated against local set-tlers Lord Dunmore governor of Virginia then marched with troops to fight theIndians in a campaign known as Dunmorersquos War After the battle of Point Pleas-ant Logan refused to participate in peace negotiations sending an address to bedelivered by Dunmorersquos messengers The speech became famous for its simple elo-quencemdashthough Logan would later discover that it was not Michael Cresap whomurdered his family

I appeal to any white man to say if he ever entered Loganrsquoscabin hungry and he gave him not meat if he ever came

cold and naked and he clothed him notDuring the course of the last long and bloody war Logan

remained idle in his cabin an advocate for peace Such was mylove for the whites that my countrymen pointed as I passedand said ldquoLogan is a friend of the white manrdquo I had eventhought to have lived with you but for the injuries of one man

Colonel Cresap the last spring in cold blood and unpro-voked murdered the relatives of Logan not even sparing hiswives and children There runs not a drop of my blood in theveins of any living creature

This called on me for revenge I have sought it I have killedmany I have fully glutted my vengeance For my country Irejoice in the beams of peace but do not harbor a thoughtthat mine is the joy of fear Logan never felt fear He will notturn on his heel to save his life Who is there to mourn forLogan Not one

16


Patrick HenryldquoGive Me Liberty or Give Me Deathrdquo

Richmond VirginiaMarch 23 1775

Patrick Henry was a self-taught lawyer who served for many years in the Vir-ginia House of Burgesses and became famous for his superb oratory At the secondVirginia Convention of Delegates assembled in Richmondrsquos St Johnrsquos ChurchHenry introduced a radical resolution urging that Virginia prepare to arm anddefend itself against British oppression His speech electrified his audience and ashe spoke the splendid last lines he thrust an imaginary dagger into his chest andfell back into his seat No written record of the speech existed until it was recon-structed forty years later by William Wirt Henryrsquos biographer

Mr President No man thinks more highly than I do of thepatriotism as well as abilities of the very worthy gentle-

men who have just addressed the House But different menoften see the same subject in different lights and therefore Ihope that it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentle-men if entertaining as I do opinions of a character veryopposite to theirs I shall speak forth my sentiments freely andwithout reserve This is no time for ceremony The questionbefore the House is one of awful moment to this country Formy own part I consider it as nothing less than a question offreedom or slavery

Mr President it is natural to man to indulge in the illusionsof hope We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth For my part whatever anguish of spirit it may cost I am will-ing to know the whole truth to know the worst and to providefor it

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided and that isthe lamp of experience I know of no way of judging of the

17


Book of Great American Speeches for

Young People

Edited by Suzanne McIntire

John Wiley amp Sons IncNew York bull Chichester bull Weinheim bull Brisbane bull Singapore bull Toronto

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0471217107 - download.e-bookshelf.de · Acknowledgments It has been my great pleasure in compiling...

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