Thanks, John Leo Keenan. 

Hello Lew,

The separated quote is how he had it.  Here I unite it with the rest to avoid the thought of an error; I copied it via archive.org (link included now).  A few letters get distorted when one copies but I fixed those.  I wrote he was a Southerner because he dedicated his book “The Life of John Caldwell Calhoun” to “the people of South Carolina” and wrote this in Auburn, but he was actually from Albany-New York, so I corrected that information.  By the way, if someone is interested in that biography, the 1851 edition is the one to get because it covers the circumstances of Calhoun’s death (the first edition was published in 1850, the year Calhoun passed away). 

I’d like to share a good, interesting quote from writer John S. Jenkins (1818-1852).  He was born in Albany-New York.  He died at 34 but wrote many books.  This quote is from the first page of his “History of the War with Mexico” (1848).  It shows the conception of the United States and of “nation” which he had (and its prosperity).

“From the time of the cessation of hostilities with Great Britain, in pursuance of the treaty concluded at Ghent, in December 1814, until 1846, a period of more than thirty years, the government of the United States was not involved in war with any of the nationsof the earth.  Occasional interruptions of herfriendly relations with other countries and governments temporarily disturbed the harmony previously existing between them; but the causes of dispute were soon removed, and every difficulty satisfactorily adjusted, with, perhaps, the single exception — that which terminated in the war with Mexico. The American Confederacy was formed, not for the political aggrandizement of its members, collectively or individually, but solely and entirely for purposes of mutual protection and defence. It has been our uniform policy, since the assertion and successful vindication of our independence, though never sacrificing anything of national dignity, to keep aloof from all entangling alliances with foreign powers, to avoid subjects of contention likely to furnish an excuse for their interference in our domestic affairs, and assiduously to cultivate the arts and the institutions of peace.  The elements of greatness and power are ours; yet these have been manifested, not so much in the achievements of our armies, and the splendor of our military establishments, as in the protection afforded to our commerce, and the encouragement given to the agricultural and industrial pursuits to which our people are devoted.  The growth of the nation has been rapid, beyond parallel.  At the beginning of the present century, she was weak and feeble — she is now great and powerful.  But her career of glory, unexampled as it is, has been marked, more than all, by the development of new principles in government, by the energy and industry which have made the wilderness to blossom like the rose, and bv the extension of human civilization, from the frozen regions of the north to the land of perpetual flowers — from the rock-bound coast of the Atlantic to the prairies of the West — “the gardens of the desert, whose very weeds are beautiful,” and whose waste “more rich than other climes’ fertility.”

At the close of the Revolution, a new government was established, and we became, emphatically, a new people.It was our aim and object to remain at peace with the world, and to continue forever wholly independent of every other power.  Our landwas the refuge of the oppressed of every nation and creed…”

“History of the War with Mexico” (1848)