Date: February 22, 1918
Location: Franklin, MA
(Original document available here)
Massachusetts has always been devoted to education. It was but sixteen years after the Pilgrims landed that the foundations of Harvard College were laid. Less than twenty years later an early Governor of the Old Colony, Thomas Prence, established what has grown into our public school system. Education here is the direct result of the institutions of our Commonwealth and its attitude toward the individual.
The early settlers willingly acknowledged they were subjects – but subjects with rights. They claimed the protection of the Great Charter of English Liberty – which included trial by jury and the right to be dealt with only regarding to the law of the land. Whenever these rights were infringed they resisted. Governor Andros found that out in 1688. It was another such resistance that started the Revolution.
The feature of that great epoch, was not the separation from Great Britain. History is full of successful revolts. The glory of that struggle lies in the kind of government established – a government without subjects in which all are recognized as sovereign citizens, and which acknowledged that its great powers were derived from the consent of the governed.
The victories of peace are apt to be overshadowed by the victories of war. To think of Washington as a General – and our first President. We must not forget that without him the Constitution of the United States could not have been adopted and that the greatest result of the Revolution, the American Union, would not have been realized. The American Constitution is a patent of nobility for all its citizens. When it was adopted and President Monroe had declared that no extraction of despotic power would be tolerated in this hemisphere we felt that democracy was forever secure.
That security does not seem so certain today. We have learned that in the past forty years a military despotism has been organizing with the avowed purpose of destroying democracy and all its works. The central idea of the Prussian military despotism is that might makes right. It denies flatly that men are born free, or equal, or have any inalienable rights, or that the consent of the governed should ever justify the powers of government. The state has the most power, therefore it is [word unclear] and may do what it will. There is no justice, there is no righteousness, there is nothing but expediency. The end justifies the means. This is the doctrine that invades Belgium, breaks treaties, uses poison gas and liquid fire, murders innocent and neutral women and children, and outrages soldier and civilian by nameless brutalities.
The nations of the earth are engaged in a great conflict to determine which of these standards shall hereafter prevail among men. One stands for Washington and idealism, the other for Hohenzollern and materialism. One exalts mankind, the other debases mankind.
Perhaps the answer is indicated for us in the occasion which brings us here. This is the birthday of the father of the Country. It is the day on which Dean Academy does reverence to its founder, Dr. Oliver Dean. What is there in the character and achievement of those two men which wins eternal adoration and gratitude? One was a victorious general and a President, the other a successful business man. There have been many victorious generals and successful [word unclear]. That is not enough to hold the complete admiration. Men do [word unclear] reverence to the mere power of the sword or the amassing of wealth. It is the character of these men to which we do honor. They were moved not by a desire to plunder but to serve, not to glorify themselves but to to ennoble their fellow men.
Unless men care for truth and justice, unless righteousness is the supreme choice, there is nothing to admire in Washington or Dean. One was a fool when he refused a crown, the other was silly to part with his property. Men do not judge by that standard. The world will not be ruled by blood and iron. The soul of men does not respond to that ideal. Many find in past history all that was best in human affairs has seemed to hang on the point of a spear. Yet it has survived. It is not enough to say it was Providence. It was Providence in the soul of man that bade him rescue civilization from barbarism. What has happened in by-gone generations will happen in our own. Man will arouse himself to save civilization.
America has been too complacent. That day has passed. The sacrifice and service which we this day acknowledge we have received from the past we now stand ready to bestow upon the future. The priceless jewels of our ancient liberty this generation holds priceless still. We shall fight on until the great realities are secure, until falsehood and force are overcome by truth and righteousness.
Citation: Vermont Historical Society
The Coolidge Foundation gratefully acknowledges the volunteer efforts of Isaac Oberman, who prepared this document for digital publication.