THE WEST IN
AMERICAN HISTORY.
JOHN LEE WEBSTER,
President Nebraska Historical
Society.
History is to a nation what the faculty
of memory is to
individuals * * * the basis of all our experience, and by
means of experience, the source of all
improvement. * * *
History knows all things, contains all
things, teaches all things;
not in winged words which strike the ear
without impressing the
mind, but in great and striking actions.
* * * The spirit
of the world itself is but a great and
unending tale repeated
from age to age, the poem of God, the
source of human in-
spiration. Such is a condensed statement
of the expressions
of Lamartine, the French scholar and
historian.
Prof. Van Dyke, in speaking of the
footprints of a desert
deer found in the petrified rocks upon a
mountain top, said:
"How many thousands of years ago
was that impression stamped
upon the stone? * * * And while it
remains quite perfect
today, the vagrant hoof mark of a desert
deer, what has become
of the once carefully guarded footprints
of the Sargons, the
Pharaohs, and the Caesars?"
I take these two excerpts from
distinguished writers as a
thought from which to deliver a
discourse upon the great West,
its place in American history, past,
present and prospective
future, and the urgent necessity, as
well as the expediency of
preserving its history.
Columbus, gifted by genius, was inspired
with the belief
that the world had lost one of its hemispheres.
With him it
was to be the discovery and bringing
back to world relationship,
not the Atlantic sea coast, but the
entire American continent.
Yet, when the Bostonians threw the tea
into Boston Harbor
they did not know of any land west of
the Alleghenies. John
Adams, the gifted advocate and fire
brand for independence,
knew nothing of lands westward from the
colonies and their
(170)
The West in American History. 171
tributary territory. Madison and Wilson
and their associate
co-workers in framing the Federal
Constitution were only acting
as the representatives of the original
thirteen states. The far
seeing George Washington looked westward
only into the regions
bordering on the Ohio River. Thomas
Jefferson did not dream
of the Louisiana Purchase until he
learned of the importance of
the Mississippi as an outlet of commerce
at New Orleans, and
that the missionary and the Spaniards
were establishing habi-
tations upon the Pacific coast. It was
not until half a century
later that the Kansas and Nebraska
Territorial Bills in Con-
gress began to attract public attention.
Kansas and Nebraska are a part of that
vast plain between
the Missouri River and the Rocky
Mountains which, in an
ancient geological period, was the
bottom of an inland sea which
extended from the Gulf of Mexico on the
South to the lake
regions on the North. In the climatic
conditions which took
place as the ages rolled along, this
plain had its tropical period,
when there were forms of vegetation and
animal life which in
this day can only be found in Africa and
South America, and
others which belonged to the medieval
world and are entirely
extinct. In the rotation of time, other
changes took place, and
the regions of Arctic cold came where
the tropical zone had
been. The glaciers came down from the
North and spread their
deposits all over the vast plain from
the mountains to the Mis-
souri River. Following these geological
and climatic changes
there afterwards came the Great American
Desert, when little
sand dunes were seen everywhere, and the
parching sun dried
up the vegetation.
Lieutenant Pike, in his report of two
government ex-
plorations into these western regions,
said that these immense
prairies "were incapable of
cultivation" and would have to be
left to the "wandering and
uncivilized aborigines of the country."
Major Long, in a report to the United
States of his explorations
into these regions, said of the prairies
that they "bear a re-
semblance to the Desert of
Siberia."
Washington Irving the historian of John
Jacob Astor's
western enterprise, indulging in the
elegance of a romance
writer, said of the American Desert,
"It spreads forth into
172 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
undulating and treeless plains, and
desolate sandy wastes, weari-
some to the eye from their extent and
monotony, and which are
supposed by geologists to have formed
the ancient floor of the
ocean, countless ages since, when its
primeval waves beat against
the granite bases of the Rocky
Mountains." A United States
senator, in opposing the admission of
Kansas into the Union
as a state, under the Wyandotte
Constitution, said, "After we
pass west of the Missouri River, except
upon a few streams,
there is no territory fit for settlement
or habitation. It is un-
productive. It is like a barren
waste."
But since the days of Adams, and
Madison, and Washing-
ton, and within a little more than a
half century, the nation
stretched out its hand into this desert
region and created a
fertile soil, and peopled it with
America's noble men and
women, who have constructed homes and
school houses and
churches, and built towns and cities,
and established marts, and
built railroads as commercial arteries,
until these prairies have
become the granaries of the world and
gardens of beauty.
We, the whitemen, are repeating in our
age the same old
story. Historians tell us that the
glories of antiquity were
highest in the lands of the desert. It
was so in old Egypt
and Palestine. It was so in Arabia,
Persia and Northern India.
It was so in the lands of the
Carthagenians and of the Moors.
As these desert lands were once the
heart of the world, we are
making the west the heart of the best
grazing and the best
producing harvest lands of the American
Continent. The old
worlds lost, not because of their lands,
but because of want
of mental and physical energy in their
people. Our experiment
will permanently endure because it is
the home of the golden
period of our manhood. It is this Kansas
which is celebrating
this anniversary of its history.
The changing geological conditions from
the time when this
land arose up from the bottom of the
sea, to become again
buried under the glacial deposits, are
no less wonderful than
the transition of the American Desert to
this paradise of states
extending from the Missouri River to the
Pacific, which has
come about within the memory of some of
those who are here
participating in this celebration.
The West in American History. 173
This reaching out of the land of the
nation into this desert
brings to our minds the awakening of the
great west from its
primeval sleep of countless ages, to
welcome and receive the
pioneer and the emigrant; the time when
the Great Spirit of
the Indian tribes, their God Manitou,
was to give way to the
influence of the missionary priest with
the cross in his hand,
and the Christian religion, and the
white man's God.
Again, the nation is stretching its hand
out into these desert
regions, and irrigation is changing arid
plains into farms, and
orchards, and gardens. Again we see, as
the sea receded, as the
glaciers melted, the desert passes, and
verdure and trees come
to cover the land as the conquering
heroes of old were adorned
with chaplets of flowers. Water! Water!
has become the master
King of the desert.
New England had her Pilgrims and her
Puritans who
occupy abundant space in the pages of
her history. Virginia
had her Cavaliers to whom is traced much
of her chivalry and
aristocracy. The great West had its
Pioneers whose lives a
century hence will be no less
interesting to us than are the lives
of the Pilgrims and the Puritans to New
England, or of the
Cavaliers to Virginia.
These Pioneers were daring and intrepid
men; men in whose
life currents there flowed in modified
and enlightened form the
elements of that spirit of old that led
the Macedonian chieftain
in his conquering career into Asia, and
won him the title of
Alexander the Great; that dwelt in Rome
and marched with
Caesar's armies through the forests of
Germany and the valleys
of Gaul; that went with the Black Prince
of Normandy when
he crossed the North Sea and vanquished
the armies of Harold,
and gave him the realm of England for a
throne, and the
name in history's page of William the
Conqueror; that spirit of
old that led Columbus across the
trackless ocean to find a new
continent that the world might move
onward, and without
which America would have remained
unknown.
The Norwegian Americans, who make up a
great part of the
inhabitants of the northwest, and are
strong factors in our
national character, can trace their
American foundations back
beyond the discovery of Columbus to the
days of the Vikings,
174 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
when they sailed the waters of the far
north as pioneers of
the sea.
Such were the men who laid the solid
foundations of the
West, that West, where, in our day,
evidences of refinement
are seen everywhere; that West, which is
moving the center
of the country's social, commercial and
political gravity farther
westward every year, and represents
untold possibilities for the
future.
The control of the government has
already passed away
from the original thirteen states. The
form of the national
government is the same. It is exercised
under the same con-
stitution, but its administration has
been transferred largely to
the states of the Ohio and Mississippi
Valleys, and in a period
of time it will be transferred to the
states west of the Mis-
souri River. In like migration the
keeping of human rights
and human liberty on this continent is
being transferred into
the hands of the people of this new
West, and to maintain it
they must be firm, and bold, and
patriotic.
For more than a hundred years the
planters of Virginia
and the Puritans of New England were
European sentinels
standing guard over the Atlantic
seaboard for Old England.
Our pioneers began as empire builders
and in less than a
hundred years have brought nineteen new
states into the Union.
They were as the Star of Bethlehem,
leading and lighting the
way for the twenty millions of people
who are the citizens of
these new states, and all under the
American flag.
The Pioneers have made the desert an
epitaph on the tomb-
stone of time. Steam and electric forces
are now ruling the
West as they rule the East. With us the
present is living history.
The United States in this, the twentieth
century, is flashing the
light of its liberty and national
supremacy over the world.
It is confessedly true that the
fundamental principle of the
United States government is human
liberty. But today there is
a more lively spirit of individual
manhood and personal inde-
pendence and of human liberty in the
states west of the Mis-
souri River than exists anywhere else.
It has a broader scope
and meaning than the phraseology of
Jefferson in the Declaration
of Independence that "All men are
created equal and have
The West in American History. 175
certain unalienable rights, among which
are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness," for that
declaration has always been con-
strued with some limitations.
The St. Gaudens statue of "The
Puritan" standing with a
staff in one hand, and a Bible under his
arm, typifies the spirit
in which New England was peopled. It is
like the glory of the
fire that came down from heaven to make
itself the living coal
on the altar. Some day the state of
Kansas will take just pride
in placing in the Hall of Fame at
Washington a heroic sized
statue of John Brown. His voice was like
unto the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, and what he
said was true. It is the
spirit of John Brown which has worked
out into reality and
living truth the statement often spoken
by Frederick Douglas
that "Man belongs to himself. His
feet are his; his hands are
his; the hairs on his head are his. It
always has been so, and it
always will be so, until tyrants shall
storm the citadel of Heaven
and wrest from the bosom of God man's
title deed to himself."
It has been said that it is the happiest
of all fates to be born
in New England and live in the West. Yet
it is true that we
have only "crossed the threshold of
our new epoch." The men
who plow, and plant, and cultivate are
writing history on the
imperishable earth. The prosperity of
Kansas and Nebraska
springs from the soil and the seasons,
and the industry of their
citizens. The farmers plant in faith;
they cultivate in hope;
they reap in grace. They are the
uncrowned kings of the
day.
It is interesting to contemplate the
white man's invasion of
this great West. What millions of men
have been employed
in this warfare of settlement and of
migration; what billions
of money have been employed by way of
improvements, and in
rewarding the processes of development;
what farming districts
have been created, and what workshops,
and what railroads
have been constructed in the wilderness;
what cities, with their
busy thousands of inhabitants, have been
built in what was once
the solitude of these primeval lands;
what states have been
carved out of the prairies and mountains
extending from the
Missouri to the Pacific; what undreamed
of commerce is trans-
ported by land, and then sent forth in
the holds of ocean going
176 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
steamships that whiten what was at that
time the unexplored
Pacific ocean. It is a subject which I
have not time to elaborate.
When properly told it will fill volumes
of history and should be
written by a pen not less brilliant to
that of a Parkman, a
Prescott or a Macaulay.
As citizens of the West we have but a
limited appreciation
and but a partial comprehension of the
extent of its territory,
of its present or future possibilities.
Kansas and Nebraska are
each equal in area to ten states like
Vermont, to fifteen states
like Connecticut, to thirty-eight states
like Delaware, and to
seventy states like Rhode Island. All of
England and Scotland,
and Ireland, and Belgium, and the
Netherlands could be put
within the boundaries of the Dakotas. We
could put these
same European countries within the
states of Oregon, Wash-
ington and Idaho and have more land left
than there is in all
the New England states. If Texas was an
inland sea and the
Republic of France was dropped within
it, it would form an
island, the vision of whose inhabitants
would not span the
surrounding waters.
What is this great West doing for the
world today? There
are illustrations which beggar
description. It has been said that
American energy sweeps the decks of the
world's commerce.
That energy comes from the West. It has
been said the
cradle of today is rocking elements that
will startle the world
of tomorrow. Their discoveries are being
made in the West.
It has been said "electric words
from the land shores jump
into wireless aerial chariots, and, in
the twinkling of an eye
dance upon the decks of ships hundreds
of miles out at sea."
It is from the West that there comes the
products of the soil,
and of the mines, and of the ranges, and
the forests, the
material that laden these ships that
makes wireless telegraphy
a useful instrumentality in the world's
commerce.
The number of vigorous, energetic and
industrious free
men in this great West, is six times as
great as the population
of the thirteen colonies when the
Declaration of Independence
was signed, and when the battles of the
Revolution were fought;
five times as great as the population of
all the states at the
time when the Federal Constitution was
adopted. It is a popu-
The West in American History. 177
lation greater than that of England when
she carried her banner
to victory over the chivalrous hosts of
France at Crecy and
Agincourt. It is a population greater
than that of Greece when
she won her separation from the dominion
of the Turk. A
population nearly as great as that of
Sicily and Naples, and of
Italy when Garibaldi started the
revolution that created the
federation of the Kingdom of Italy under
Victor Emanuel.
A population nearly as great as that of
France at the time of her
Revolution or when Napoleon began his
career as her Emperor.
Visions of our future population and of
wealth "sweep
across the horizon of historical
possibilities." The wave of popu-
lation from Europe westward across the
Atlantic began only two
centuries ago, yet in the United States
alone we have nearly
one hundred millions of people. The
overflow from Italy, and
Austria, and Germany, and Belgium, and
Holland, and Norway,
and Sweden, and England, and Scotland
and Ireland is still going
on, and will continue to go on as long
as the races of the world
continue to increase in numbers. Putnam
Weale, who has
achieved much distinction by his books
dealing with the Far
East, and the world's future, estimates
that the existing popu-
lation of the earth will double in
numbers by the end of the cen-
tury. Where will these vast millions of
people go? Will not
the white men follow the tide of
migration to North and
South America? But of these continents
our great Northwest
offers the better opportunities and the
more inviting prospects.
The same writer has estimated that by
the end of the century
the United States will have a population
of three hundred
millions of people. Mr. Carnegie, no
less thoughtful or intelli-
gent, and not an unreasonable
enthusiast, has said that the
United States will ultimately have a
population of five hundred
million, every one an American, and all
boasting a common
citizenship. Should that day come, more
than two hundred
million of them will live west of the
Missouri River.
We have said it is within the range of
possibilities. Ne-
braska and Kansas, when compared to
Holland, which sustains
a population of four hundred and fifty
people per square mile
upon a soil which has been lifted up out
of the sea, an artificial
creation, can sustain a population of
seventy millions. The arable
Vol. XXIV - 12.
178
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
land of Egypt, surrounded by desert and
dependent upon irriga-
tion coming from the overflow of the
Nile, has a much larger pro-
portionate population; nine hundred and
fifty per square mile.
Might not these two states sustain one
hundred and fifty mil-
lions of people like the Egyptians?
But we are not dependent upon our
agricultural lands for
the capability of sustaining a vast
population. There is more
water power in the rivers that flow from
the slopes of the Rocky
and Sierra Mountains than there is in
all New England. These
rushing mountain streams of the West are
awaiting the coming
of the mill owner to make the capital of
the investor become
profitable. There is more lumber in
Washington and Oregon
and more extensive forests on the
western slopes than there ever
were in Maine and Michigan. There is
more coal in Wyoming
and Colorado than there ever was in
Pennsylvania. There are
more outcroppings of iron on the slopes
of the Rocky Mountains
than there are in all the states east of
the Mississippi. The
great manufacturing country of England,
with her commerce
that encircles the globe, goes to Africa
with an enormous outlay
of capital, and maintains a protective
army, to get the supply of
gold to maintain her money standard. The
United States for a
century has been taking her gold and
silver from her own west-
ern mountains, which, for ages, have
been lying sleeping there,
awaiting the coming of the pioneer and
the gold digger, and for
the improved machinery and appliances of
these modern times.
We can have every species of industry in
the West because it
offers possibilities of every sort.
I am not wholly without support if I
speculate upon the
possibility of the Pacific Coast
ultimately having larger cities
than New York, or Boston, or Baltimore.
The scholarly and
wide visioned, Charles Sumner, once said
the world shall see
in that far clime the streets of a
wealthier New York; the homes
of a more cultured Boston; the halls of
a more learned Harvard;
the workshop of a busier Worcester.
All this territory of the great West
came to the original
United States by acquisitions either by
purchase, or treaty. The
boundaries and limits of the republic have
already become so ex-
tended that they greet the morning
sunrise, at Porto Rico; and
The West in American History. 179
the southern sun when it reaches the
tropics, at Panama; and
when it sends its glancing rays into
the polar circle, from the
northern regions of Alaska; and now when
he sets in the far
western ocean we bid him good night from
Hawaii and the
Philippines.
Notwithstanding this unlimited dominion,
we have the same
form of government that was administered
when we had less
than five millions of people. The same
constitution has answered
our demands, although we have today one
hundred millions of
people, and why may it not satisfy our
necessities should we
perchance in time have five hundred
millions? If our public
and private virtues shall be preserved,
our government will
live through all times, no matter how
extensive its territory
and magnificent its worldly
institutions, as surely as our material
progress is destined to indefinite
continuance.
It is believed that there is a Destiny
which has forever
been guiding the course of the human
race. That same Destiny
which carried the Christian religion,
and civilization, and learn-
ing, and literature, and the arts from
the banks of the Nile
and the shores of the Adriatic, across
the continent of Europe
to Paris and London, later carried it
across the Atlantic. That
same Destiny is now shedding its bright
effulgence all the ad-
vantages of culture and mental
adornments over the great
West.
But my speculations for the future are
more than dreams
of imagination or hopes of the fancy.
From the American
Desert until now, and from now to a
century hence is the march
of progress under the hand of God. It is
the American Republic
coming into her own, the ruling power,
the mistress of the world.
We recur again to the value of this
history and how it shall
be preserved. History does not consist
alone in the frigid recital
of cold facts. There is that in history
which appeals to the
imagination. It is the romance of the
lives of men who engaged
in the stirring events of the period in
which they lived. It is the
recital of the transactions and
creations of men and peoples and
nations. It is the condensation into
general declarations of the
materials found in the thousands of
biographies.
History lies at the bottom of all
knowledge. It is the first
180
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
starting point of all learning and of
all literature. Our national
government is founded on principles
gathered from centuries of
history.
Our epic poems and our literature are
varied and inspired
expressions of the stirring events in
history which have appealed
most to the imagination. Had it not been
for the historic events
that made the siege of Troy memorable we
would not remember
Homer, and the literary world could not
have had the enjoyment
that has come to it through the long
time of centuries from the
reading of the Iliad.
Without the historical traditions of the
old Italian cities and
without the histories of the wars
between the Kings of England
and France, Shakespeare would have been
obliged to depend
upon the invention of his poetic genius
for his fame.
Other poets who have put forth in
melodious phrase the
thoughts that have come to them by the
inspired muse, have
been indebted to incidents of history.
This is true from Virgil
to Milton, from Byron to Tennyson, and
from Longfellow to
Whittier.
The history of our country, as well as
that of other coun-
tries, will live in its poetry.
"Every great event, every historic
episode, every critical moment in the
annals of the nation is
immortalized by the rhythm that thrills
the hearts of the people
down through the generations."
History has been the field from which
novelists have gath-
ered the material for their romances.
Without the history of
England and Scotland we would not have had
those beautiful
pen pictures that run through the
historical novels of that genius
of Scotland, Sir Walter Scott, romances
which have furnished
abundant instruction and made millions
of people happy while
reading them.
Had it not been for the recorded pages
of history of the
old Roman Empire we would not have had
Bulwer's brilliant
historic romance, Rienzi, The Last of
the Tribunes. Had it not
been for the archaeologist and the
historian, Bulwer could not
have given to us the Last Days of
Pompeii. Had it not been for
the recording of the exciting and
tumultuous scenes of English
The West in American History. 181
history we would not have had Bulwer's
masterpiece, The Last
of The Barons.
The thousands of biographies of
soldiers, of statesmen, and
of men eminent in various walks of life
have been written by
their admiring friends to perpetuate the
memory of their actions
and deeds and achievements to future
generations. The primary
purpose of biographies is a standing
protest against oblivion and
a contest to perpetuate the lives of
these men in the pages of
history.
Go into any library and take down from
the shelves all its
volumes of history, and all its poems,
and all its romances, and
all its biographies, and all other
volumes that deal in a general
or specific way with the events of
history, or appeal to the inci-
dents of history to support their
recitals, or contentions in argu-
ment, and commit all these to the
flames, and the library shelves
will become vacant. When all these are
gone the colleges must
go, the universities must go, and
civilization will go back to a
period of ignorance greater than that of
the dark ages. Then
we would have to begin again as the
world did centuries ago to
build up a new education, and a new
civilization, and pass
through a long line of centuries to
reach a bright and exalted
period equal to that of the present age.
Aye, more than all that;
when all these go the Bible must go,
because, whether treated as
a book of inspiration or as a great
literature, it is a history of
ancient Kings, and of Nations, and of
Peoples, of the Jews,
Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians,
and of the Prince of
Peace. Strip the world of the benefits
of history and the world
would not be worth living in.
Without history we would not have our
common country.
Without a familiarity with the Magna
Charta, and with the
English Bill of Rights, and the liberty
of the individual man
under the unwritten English
Constitution, Thomas Jefferson
could not have written the Declaration
of Independence. With-
out that knowledge of the rights of
Englishmen which were
transplanted to the American Colonies,
Washington could not
have successfully carried on the War of
the Revolution.
Without a full and complete knowledge of
the history of the
conflicting contests between freedom and
oppression, which pre-
182 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
vailed through the long evolutionary
periods from ancient Greece
to the Federation of the Colonies,
Madison and Hamilton and
Wilson and their associates could not
have framed the federal
Constitution, and its supporters and
advocates could not have
secured its approval by the American
people.
Patriotism is the life and support of
every nation and with-
out history patriotism would be unknown
for patriotism has its
birth-right in the spirit of history.
Patriotism is a sentiment
that has its inception in a reverence
for the old historic begin-
nings. With America it goes back in
memory to the landing of
the Cavaliers at Jamestown, and of the
Pilgrims at Plymouth.
It is cultivated and increased by its
reverence for the memories
of Washington and his associate
revolutionary heroes, and its
recollection of all the bright pages in
history that record the de-
velopment of the country from its birth
to its present great and
majestic proportions. Blot from memory
the history of our
early beginning, the memories of our
battles from Yorktown to
the Spanish War, and the memories of the
lives of the great
men that have brought this country up to
its present standard of
supremacy of a world power, and we would
not know the
meaning of the word patriotism.
Hence, confidently we may assert that
without the benefits
of history constitutional government
could not be created and
governments of laws and equality could
not exist. Blot out
history and organized governments would
dissolve and society
would lose the bonds of fraternal unity,
and the only ruling
power that man would know would be the
power of force, as
exercised by a chief of a savage tribe,
or a conquering warrior
like a Tamerlane or an Alexander.
State historical societies collect and
preserve the historical
incidents and records which are the
wells from which spring
forth the intellectual and spiritual
growth of our people, just as
sculpture and art are the culmination of
historical sequences.
The interests which these societies
represent are the foundation
upon which the States rest and the
Nation is maintained. A
reverence for the valuable materials
gathered by these historical
societies is one of the strongest moral
influences that can be in-
culcated in our people. Upon an
appreciation of what shall be
The West in American History. 183
gathered there, rests the spirit, the
loyalty and the patriotism of
the generations. Historical knowledge is
a positive force in
moulding public opinion and is now, as
it ever has been, the
source of precedents for our
institutions of justice.
As the air we breathe is drawn from the
great depositories
of nature, and the light which illumines
the day comes from a
central sun millions of miles distant,
so the knowledge which we
possess in our age is drawn from great
depositories of history,
and our advancement and development is
traceable to the historic
precedents of the measureless past.
The older nations of the Continent of
Europe, such as
France, Germany, and Italy, long since
learned the wisdom of
bringing home to the understanding of
the common people an
appreciation of the memorable events in
their national histories
by means of works of art. The great
historic truths which the
mind can take in while the eye is
resting upon a dream of beauty,
either in the wonderful work produced by
the sculptor's chisel,
or in figures of beauty dressed in robes
of color by the artist's
brush, are lasting and persuasive. It is
a happier method of
instruction than the wearisome labor of
searching through the
store-house of archives. America, too,
is fast learning this
method of teaching history and within
the last few years her
history is being immortalized in marble
and bronze and painting.
The National greatness of the Republic
is being symbolized in
memorials on its public buildings. Our
monuments in figures
of bronze and in chiseled marble are
daily reminders of our
achievements in war and in peace.
The statues of Grant, and Sherman, and
Farragut, and
Hancock and others that adorn the parks
and circles in Wash-
ington City, and soldier memorials in
all the states, tell of the
victories in the Civil War which gave to
the country nationality.
The statues of Lincoln, simple and
unadorned though they may
be, recall the Proclamation of
Emancipation more vividly than
it can be retold by any historian.
The lovers of our national history have
sought the aid of
the painter's brush to keep fresh and vivid
the biographic
memories and personages of the founders
of the Republic. The
painted portraits of Adams, and Hancock,
and Franklin, and
184 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Hamilton, and Jefferson, and of Generals
Warren and Stark,
and Lincoln, and Knox, and Gates, and
Green, and Washington
convey to us a deeper and more lasting
impression of their char-
acters and of their successes as
statesmen, or as soldiers, than
do the printed pages found in their
biographies, or the histories
of the times in which they lived.
The large paintings of the battle-fields
from Lexington and
Bunker Hill and Germantown to the
surrender of Cornwallis at
Yorktown are a brilliant condensation of
all the history of the
War of the Revolution, just as the
picture of the "Signing
of the Declaration of Independence"
tells the history of the be-
ginning of our Republic. It has been said
that the true history
of a people is written in its art. It is
the genius of the sculptor
that has fashioned in marble the
exquisite conceptions of the life,
of music, of art, of learning, and of
science in America. These
conceptions represent some deep
philosophical truth in life as it
is interpreted from historical records
found in the archives of
State historical societies.
Art is as true a record of a nation's
progress as a scroll,
and pictorial impressions are oftentimes
greater than the written
word. The older civilization of the old
world is represented in
her priceless masterpieces, and such are
more influential upon
the national spirit and character than
speeches and books.
State Historical Society Buildings and
Memorial Halls are
treasure houses of history. Their
interior walls should be deco-
rated with mural paintings, as is the
Congressional Library,
representing the history of the State.
These buildings should
have bronze entrance doors representing
"Knowledge" and
"Wisdom" and
"Memory." I believe that a State Historical
Society Building should be more than a
store-house for a museum
and a hiding place for archives. To the
contrary, it should
represent in bronze, in sculpture, and
in art, all that makes for
history, culture, beauty, scholarship,
and higher civilization.
The West is passing through a phase of
history to which
can be found no parallel except in the
remote ages of the
buried past. Centuries upon centuries
ago there were empires
which exist no longer. Cities were
builded which have been
depopulated and crumbled into decay. In
those ancient times
The West in American History. 185
there were people who spoke languages
that are no longer spoken
and which are known to us only as they
are taught by linguists
in colleges or universities. We are in a
state of bewilderment
when we read of these ancient people
whose empires and king-
doms and languages have disappeared. We
ask ourselves how
could these things transpire?
It is unthinkable to us that New York
and Boston and Phila-
delphia at some future time should
crumble into ruins; that
the United States government should fall
into decay; that the
American people should become extinct;
and that a new race
of people, speaking a new language,
should in our stead tread the
soil of the American Continent. Yet we
know that such a period
of transition from one nation to
another, and from one people
to another, and from one language to
another has actually taken
place in western Asia and in
southeastern Europe.
We, of the West, are today witnessing
the disappearance of
a race of people. The Indian tribes that
once possessed this
entire country have been driven to the
western frontier and we
are the observers of their gradual
extinction. Here in the
West we can see, and we can feel, going
on around and about us,
a transition in history almost as
remarkable and wonderful as
that of the preceding ages which I have
mentioned. There is
in it a pathos that appeals to our
sentimentality and a foun-
dation for a romance in history which
can be furnished by no
other continent.
But while to us one race of people is
becoming extinct,
there is a counterpart in the beginning
of the creation of a new
race of people, which is the composite
of all races and all classes
who make up our western population-an
amalgamation of Nor-
wegians, of Swedes, of Danes, of
Irishmen, of Germans, of
Frenchmen, and of Englishmen into the
new American man of
the West. In that new man be found the
mental and physical
characteristics of all these different
peoples.
In him may be traces of the nervous
energy and versatility
of the Frenchman, of the progressive
push of the German, of the
strong will power of the Scotchman, and
the conquering spirit
and energy of the Englishman. As the
Frenchman has super-
seded the Gaul, as the Englisman has
superseded the Briton,
186 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
as the Anglo-Saxon has peopled America,
this new man of the
West has already succeeded our Puritan
ancestors. These new
western men will exercise a dominating
influence in the govern-
ment of States and in the affairs of the
Nation.
The States of the West owe it to
themselves to preserve in
the archives of their historical
societies the traditions of adven-
ture and the records of the conquests of
the prairies and the
uplands and mountains by these daring
and courageous pioneers.
They owe it to themselves to preserve in
substantial form the
historical romance of the disappearance
of one race of people
before the advancing progress of
American civilization. The
States owe it to themselves to collect
and preserve in unperish-
able form all the material necessary to
convey to the people in the
generations, yes, even in the centuries
to come, a comprehensive
understanding of what the wilderness was
before the hand of
man had transformed it into a granary of
wealth and a garden
of beauty, and what were the racial
characteristics of the people
that are to form the new composite man
of the great West.
The lives and history of our pioneers,
our scholars, our
statesmen and soldiers should be
preserved by our Historical
Societies and in our Memorial Halls
through the countless ages,
as are preserved the hoof print of the
vagrant desert deer of Van
Dyke, for they are of more value to the
future of our public
than the history of the Sargons, the
Pharaohs and the Caesars.
THE WEST IN
AMERICAN HISTORY.
JOHN LEE WEBSTER,
President Nebraska Historical
Society.
History is to a nation what the faculty
of memory is to
individuals * * * the basis of all our experience, and by
means of experience, the source of all
improvement. * * *
History knows all things, contains all
things, teaches all things;
not in winged words which strike the ear
without impressing the
mind, but in great and striking actions.
* * * The spirit
of the world itself is but a great and
unending tale repeated
from age to age, the poem of God, the
source of human in-
spiration. Such is a condensed statement
of the expressions
of Lamartine, the French scholar and
historian.
Prof. Van Dyke, in speaking of the
footprints of a desert
deer found in the petrified rocks upon a
mountain top, said:
"How many thousands of years ago
was that impression stamped
upon the stone? * * * And while it
remains quite perfect
today, the vagrant hoof mark of a desert
deer, what has become
of the once carefully guarded footprints
of the Sargons, the
Pharaohs, and the Caesars?"
I take these two excerpts from
distinguished writers as a
thought from which to deliver a
discourse upon the great West,
its place in American history, past,
present and prospective
future, and the urgent necessity, as
well as the expediency of
preserving its history.
Columbus, gifted by genius, was inspired
with the belief
that the world had lost one of its hemispheres.
With him it
was to be the discovery and bringing
back to world relationship,
not the Atlantic sea coast, but the
entire American continent.
Yet, when the Bostonians threw the tea
into Boston Harbor
they did not know of any land west of
the Alleghenies. John
Adams, the gifted advocate and fire
brand for independence,
knew nothing of lands westward from the
colonies and their
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