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593584

COPYRIGHT 1910

BY

SCOTT, FORESMAN & CO.

PREFACE.

American speeches have always been studied enthusiastically by Americans; not primarily because of their literary value, but because of their satisfying statement of American ideals. The words of Washington, Webster, and Lincoln express the national aspiration in ways that are forever memorable. Their phrases have passed into maxims and into the daily speech of their countrymen. The appeal they make is to the historical imagination, and that appeal is increased when the growth of the ideals presented by these men is traced in the earlier words of such patriots as Henry, Franklin, and Hamilton. It is further strengthened when the opposing ideals as set forth in the words of Douglas and Stephens are well understood. The re-statement of Americanism, made necessary by the outcome of the Civil War, and by the sudden rise of industrialism and the new democracy coincidently with the enlarged sense of world-responsibility that has latterly possessed American thinking, is best found in the words of Phillips, Grady, Cockran, and Angell. These men have put the dominant thought of the age into harmony with the traditional ideals of our republic; and each has done this in the presence of some "new occasion" that taught "new duties." This book provides a collection of speeches and papers sufficiently extensive to indicate the main line of development.

It happens also that the addresses included in this

volume illustrate the typical varieties of public speech,the legislative speech of controversial or expository character, the farewell address, the eulogy, the commemorative and the anniversary oration, the debate, the inaugural address, the public letter, the literary estimate, the after-dinner speech, and the baccalaureate address. The material provided in the introduction and in the notes will indicate clearly the direction which, in the opinion of the editor, the study of these American public addresses should take.

COLUMBUS, OHIO, January 9, 1910.

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