Speech by Congressman Thomas W. Ferry (R-Michigan) on July 4, 1876,
in Philadelphia
Researched by James R. Heintze. All rights reserved.
Editor's note: this address was presented at Independence Square by Ferry in place
of President Grant who declined to attend the event. Ferry quotes from the Declaration of
Independence. Address printed in "City of the Declaration," New York Times, 5
July 1876, 3.
Citizens of our Centennial:
The regretful absence of the President of the United States casts on me the honor of presiding on
this eventful occasion. Much as I value the official distinction, I prize much more the fact that
severally we hold, and successfully we maintain, the right to the prouder title of American
citizen. It ranks all others. It make office, unmakes officers, and creates States. One hundred
years ago, in yonder historical structure, heroic statesmen sat, and gravely chose between royal
rule and popular sovereignty. Inspired with the spirit which animated the Roman sage who, on
the midst of Mars Hill, declared that of one blood were made all nations of men, those
Continental sages echoed in the midst of Independence Hall their immortal declaration that all
men are created free and equal. Appealing to the god of justice and of battle for the rectitude and
firmness of their purpose, they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the
abstract principle of the freedom and equality of the human race. Today, in this rounding hour of
a century, appealing to the same God of justice and of peace, we praise Him for, and pledge our
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor to maintain, the spirit of that declaration now made
universal by the fundamental law of the land. We, the people of the United States, in this
Centennial memorial, pay double tribute to the Most High, one of grateful acknowledgment of
the fulfilled pledge of our fathers to overthrow royalism, and the other of joyful assurance of the
fulfilling pledge of their sons to uphold republicanism. The great powers of the earth honor the
spirit of American fidelity to the cause of human freedom by the exhibition of their wares and the
presence of their titled peers, to grace and dignify the world's homage paid to the Centennial
genius of American liberty. Three millions of people grown to forty-three millions; and thirteen
Colonies enlarge to a nation of thirty-seven States with the thirty-eighth, the Centennial State,
forsaking eight Territories, and on the threshold of the Union abiding executive admission; these
attest the forecast and the majesty of the Declaration of 1776. It was nothing short of the
utterance of the sovereignty of manhood and the worth of American citizenship. Its force is fast
supplanting the assumption of the divine right of Kings by virtue of the supreme law of the
nation, that the people alone hold the sole owner to rule. Nations succeed each other in
following the example of this Republic, and the force of American institutions bids fair to bring
about a general reversal of the source of political power. When that period shall come, Great
Britain, so magnanimous in presence on this auspicious era, will then, if not before, praise the
events when American Independence was won under Washington, and when freedom and
equality of races were achieved under Lincoln and Grant.
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