of the states, fully satisfied the scruples of those who were inimical to that instrument as it was first adopted, and by whom the amendments were considered necessary as a safeguard for religious and civil liberty. Thus, and still further, amended, the Constitution, as a great rule of political conduct, has guided the public authorities of the United States through the unprecedented political vicissitudes and the perilous revolutionary commotions which have agitated the human race for the last quarter of a century, to a condition at once so prosperous, so commanding, and so happy, that it has wholly outstripped all previous foresight and calculation. When we look back upon the state of inertness in which we reposed under the Act of Confederation, to the languishment of our commerce, and the indifference with which, in that situation, we were regarded by foreign governments, and compare that disposition of things with the energy to which we were subsequently roused by the operation of the Constitution, with the vast theatre on which, under the influence of its provisions, our maritime trade has been actively employed, with the freedom and plenty which we enjoy at home, the respect entertained for the American name abroad, and the alacrity with which our favour and friendship are sought by the nations of the earth, our thankfulness to Providence ought to know no bounds, and to the able men who framed and have supported the Constitution should only be limited by those paramount considerations which are indispensable to the perpetuation and increase of the blessings which have been already realized.
The perspicuous brevity of the Constitution has left but little room for misinterpretation. But if at any time ardent or timid minds have exceeded or fallen short of its intentions; if the precision of human language has, in the formation of this instrument, been inadequate to the expression of the exact ideas meant to be conveyed by its framers; if, from the vehemence of party spirit, it has been warped by individuals, so as to incline it either too much towards monarchy or towards an unmodified democracy; let us console ourselves with the reflection, that however these aberrations may have transiently prevailed, the essential principles of the Representative System of government have been well preserved by the clear-sighted common sense of the people; and that our affections all concentre in one great object, which is the improvement and the glory of our country.
