Excerpt from Thanksgiving for the Union: A Discourse, Federal-Street Meetinghouse in Boston, on Thanksgiving-Day, November 28, 1850 Again, I admire the Union for the history of which it has been the source, through a period covering more than half a century. There are passages of that his tory which I read with sorrow; but, as a whole, it has no parallel in the annals of mankind, for the evi dence which it gives of growth and prosperity. In population, in territory, in wealth, in the accumula tion and development of material resources, has there ever been such an example of steady and rapid increase? Look at the United States of sixty years ago, and the United States of to-day. The difference would exceed belief, if it were not for the stubborn facts of authentic history. A large part of the change which has come over the face of half a continent must be ascribed, indeed, to the energies of the people, and the remarkable opportunity they have enjoyed for the exercise of those energies in the immense region 'thrown into their hands, to be redeemed from its native wildness, and converted into the home of industry, comfort, civilization, and Christianity. But, if the Union had not given encouragement and protection to those energies, this grand opportunity would never have been used, nor under stood. It is as the American Union that this republic has grown in two generations to be one of the first-rate powers of the world, that it has become as remarkable for its vigor as for its size, and that it has received into its bosom, and changed into happy freemen, mil lions who forsook injustice and wretchedness in the Eastern continent for the blessings which they have found here. With all that is dark in the history of this republic, it has been a splendid history; and I thank God it is the history of my native land. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.