Gentlemen and Ladies—Fellow Citizens—I arise here to address you a
few moments upon a subject which has, perhaps, been worn threadbare by
orators, statesmen, and divines, for the last seventy years, in the
minds of a great portion of those who have been in the habit of
listening to speeches upon the battles of the Revolution, and the
causes which put it in motion. The subject has become trite. Every
schoolboy who reads American history is, perhaps, better versed in it
than he could be with anything that I can advance, by pursuing the old
beaten track, or continuing in the channel which has been so long
worn. Yet I may safely say, with all that has been said, its real
merits have scarcely been approached.
The causes which produced the American Revolution were so far behind
the veil, that the writers of American history and the orators who
expatiate on the subject on occasions like this, and on other
occasions, have not acknowledged that it was the Almighty—the
invisible and omnipotent hand of Him who made the heavens and the
earth and the fountains of waters, who worked the secret wires, and
opened up the revolutionary scene, to lay a foundation and prepare a
people, with a system of government, among whom his work of the last
days could be commenced upon this earth.
Persons present today may consider that no other country in the world
would have allowed the persecutions and oppressions that have fallen
upon the work of God in this land, of which many of you have been
partakers. But in this you are mistaken; for there is no nation under
heaven among whom the kingdom of God could have been established and
rolled forth with as little opposition as it has received in the
United States. Every species of oppression and opposition, which has
aimed at the destruction of the lives and liberties of the members of
this Church, has been in open violation of the laws of the country;
while, among other nations, the links of the chain of government are
so formed that the very constitution and laws of the country would
oppose the government of God. This is the case almost without an
exception.
I will say, then, the American Revolution had its beginning behind the
veil. The invisible providence of the Almighty, by his Spirit,
inspired the hearts of the Revolutionary Fathers to resist the
Government of England and the oppressions they had submitted to for ages. When ground to dust, as it were, in their mother country,
the first settlers in this land looked to the West. They fled from
oppression, and planted their standard upon American soil, which was
then a wilderness in the possession of savages. The climate,
productions, extent, and nature of the country was then unknown to
distant nations. It appeared, however, to offer an asylum for the
oppressed, even at that early day.
A party escaped from oppression, and landed in Massachusetts; another
party, for a similar cause, left the mother country, and landed in
Connecticut; and so a number of the early States were formed by
settlers who fled from their native country through religious
oppression. The young colonies grew until they became somewhat
formidable, and began to realize that they were entitled to some
common national privileges; that they had a right to the protection of
certain laws by which their ancestors were protected; and also that
they had a right to an equal voice in the making of those laws.
It is my intention to notice a multiplicity of minor circumstances, to
portray the tyrannical spirit that prevailed in the English
Parliament, and which were only so many sparks to feed the flame of
revolution. What was the greatest trouble? The right of making their
own laws was denied them by the King and Parliament; and if they made
laws, the King claimed the right of abrogating those laws at pleasure,
and also appointed officers who could dissolve the National Assembly
and levy taxes without the consent of the inhabitants of the Colonies.
These were the main causes of the Revolution. God caused these causes
to operate upon the minds of the colonists, until they nobly resisted
the power of the mother country. At that time Great Britain stood
pre-eminent among the nations of Europe, and had just finished the
wars against several of them combined. God inspired our fathers to
make the Declaration of Independence, and sustained them in their
struggles for liberty until they conquered. Thus they separated
themselves from the parent stock; and, as an historian of that age
quaintly said, when they signed that Declaration, if they did not all
hang together, they would be sure to all hang separately. Union is
strength.
But how does this Revolution progress? That is the question. Has the
great principle that colonies, territories, states, and nations have
the right to make their own laws, yet become established in the world?
I think if some of our lawyers would peruse the musty statutes at
large, they would find that there are several colonies of the United
States who have seen proper, under the limited provisions then given
them, to enact laws for their own convenience; but they suffered the
mortification of having them vetoed by the General Congress. Look, for
instance, at the statutes in relation to the Territory of Florida, and
see the number of laws enacted by that people, and repealed by act of
Congress.
It is curious to me that the progress of the Revolution has been so
small, referring to that which is produced in the minds of the whole
American people. Every organized Territory, wherever it exists, has
the same right that the early revolutionary fathers claimed of Great
Britain, and bled to obtain—that is, of making its own laws and being
represented in the General Assembly as a confederate power.
This Revolution may possibly increase in the future, and is, no doubt,
progressing at the present time. One individual in particular, during
the present session of Congress, has become so enlightened as
to say in the House, "You have no business with the domestic relations
of Utah;" and, consequently, I think the principle is making headway.
The United States have increased greatly in power, majesty, dominion,
and extent, having half-a-dozen Territories at once already organized,
and others calling for an organization. Says the General Government to
these organized bodies at a distance, "You may send a Delegate here,
but he shall have no voice in the General Assembly; and if you make
any laws that do not suit us, we will repeal them, and we will send
you a Governor who will veto everything you do that does not exactly
suit us." I want to see the Revolution progress, so that the great
head of the American nation can say to every separate colony, "Make
your own laws, and cleave to the principles of the Constitution which
gives that right."
For me to rehearse the battles of Washington, and the incidents in the
struggle for freedom which every schoolboy knows, would only be to
consume time to little advantage. What has been the result? Our
forefathers, by their blood, have purchased for us liberty; but as far
as the rights of the weak are concerned, the Revolution has progressed
slowly. For instance, the Territory of Oregon forms a provisional
Government for itself, and then petitions Congress to receive her
under their fostering care. The result is, they send them a convoy of
Governmental officers, which, by-the-by, never have time to get
there; and if they should happen to arrive there, they are unwilling
to stay; and thus the people have been left, a whole year at a time,
without a regular set of officers. They are deprived of the privilege
of voting in favor of or against the officers who are appointed to
rule them, and of being heard, through their Representative, in the
halls of Congress. Who wants to go there, and not have a voice with
the rest of them? Although we have sent a most eloquent gentleman to
represent this portion of the American nation, and one who can cry
"poor pussy" among them to a charm, yet, at the same time, he cannot
have the privilege of voting on any question, however detrimental to
liberty and the Constitution.
But the Revolution is progressing, and the time is not far distant
when Territories will enjoy privileges that have been held back for
the purpose of pandering to a relict of that monarchy which oppressed
the American people. Is it reasonable that people dwelling thousands
of miles from the parent Government should not have the same privilege
of regulating their own affairs as those who live in its vicinity? It
is the same kind of oppression and restraint that was placed upon our
Revolutionary Fathers by the King and his Parliament. The American
Government has fallen into the same errors, touching this point, as
the British Government did at the commencement of the Revolution.
This is what I have to say on the rise and progress of the American
Revolution. It is progressing slowly. While the nation is extending
itself, and increasing in power, wisdom, and wealth, it seems, at the
same time, to remain, in some respects, on the old ground occupied by
the mother country in the early settlement of this land. I raise my
voice against it, for I love American Independence: the principle is
dear to my heart. When I have been in foreign countries, I have felt
proud of the American flag, and have desired that they could have the
enjoyment of as much liberty as the American people.
At the same time, we have a right to more liberty; we have a right to elect our own officers and have a voice in Congress in the
management of the affairs of the nation. The time is coming when we
shall have it. The Revolution will by-and-by spread far and wide, and
extend the hand of liberty and the principles of protection to all
nations who are willing to place themselves under the broad folds of
its banner.
These are about the remarks I wished to make, and the ideas that were
in my mind. May God bless us all, and save us in his kingdom. Amen.
- George A. Smith