since that period a population of four millions has multiplied to twelve. a territory bounded by the mississippi has been extended from sea to sea. new states have been admitted to the union in numbers nearly equal to those of the first confederation. treaties of peace， amity， and commerce have been concluded with the principal dominions of the earth. the people of other nations， inhabitants of regions acquired not by conquest， but by compact， have been united with us in the participation of our rights and duties， of our burdens and blessings. the forest has fallen by the ax of our woodsmen； the soil has been made to teem by the tillage of our farmers； our commerce has whitened every ocean. the dominion of man over physical nature has been extended by the invention of our artists. liberty and law have marched hand in hand. all the purposes of human association have been accomplished as effectively as under any other government on the globe， and at a cost little exceeding in a whole generation the expenditure of other nations in a single year.
such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition under a constitution founded upon the republican principle of equal rights. to admit that this picture has its shades is but to say that it is still the condition of men upon earth. from evil—— physical， moral， and political——it is not our claim to be exempt. we have suffered sometimes by the visitation of heaven through disease； often by the wrongs and injustice of other
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