an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof, but Congress may, by a vote of twothirds of each House remove such disability.

SECTION IV.

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for the payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned; but neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims, shall be held illegal and void.

ARTICLE XV.

SECTION I.

The rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

SECTION II.

The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

THE FATHERS OF THE REPUBLIC.

OE can not believe that man lives upon American soil, protected by our laws, and sheltered by the dear old. flag beneath whose folds the patriots of '76 marched on to victory over the armies of the tyrant and oppressor, whose heart does not beat quicker with pride and affection as he glances back over the heroes who planted the germ of our national independence, and watered it with tears, and hallowed the soil only too often with their life-blood. We look at their mighty works and say, surely, "there were giants in those days." Gigantic was the task which those brave men performed, and glorious have been the results of their efforts.

From the day when the first blow fell upon the astonished believers in the divine right of kings, to the day when, at the Court of Versailles, the reluctant lion of the House of Hanover was compelled to sign the Act which gave to the colonists a standing amongst the nations of the earth, their days and nights were given to watching, to fighting and to prayer. They had already endured all that men could endure-suffered all that men could suffer-borne all that men could bear; and now, with the fire of liberty kindled in their souls, they gathered their forces and consecrated their lives, their property and their all to the cause that to them was dearer than all others.

There are names that we have inscribed high on the roll of fame; there are names which we revere above all other names on earth-names that we associate with all that is most sacred to freemen, and which will live in the councils of our nation while we have a national existence. In the constellation of names which succeeding generations delight to remember and honor, none are brighter than those of WASHINGTON, JEFFERSON, HANCOCK,

FRANKLIN, OF JOHN ADAMS, and we feel a justifiable pride in the words and sentiments of that Declaration of Independence which made the memory of its framers immortal. Founded upon the principles of justice-recognizing the right of all men to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," it is not strange that the nation uprose to defend a government that declared it derived all "power from the consent of the governed;" nor that they bore hardships, privation, suffering and toil as became those who defended hearthstone and roof-tree; and above all, those who defended the cradle wherein the young child Liberty slumbered.

At that time the soldiers were but scantily fed, and more scantily clothed, but Washington bore with them the heat of the long march under a scorching sun and the severities of the winter campaign; and when the footprints of the worn-out, exhausted troopers stained the unsullied snow of Valley Forge, the commander-in-chief and his subaltern officers were scarcely better clad. Yet no man murmured or complained, for the freedom that should be the heirloom and birthright of their children's children for all generations to come was entrusted to their keeping.

Such sublime devotion to a cause that seemed almost hopeless— such unselfish patriotism and love for their country-such unfaltering courage, even when defeated at every step, finds no parallel in history. It was no half-way victory they sought, and no halfway concession would satisfy them. They would be untrammeled by foreign power-they would be unrestrained by foreign lawsunrestricted by foreign intervention. Their rivers should run free to the sea-their ships of commerce should dot every ocean -their flag should be recognized by every government. No usurper's foot should press our green sward-no tyrant army garrison our forts-no tyrant's navy guard our harbors. Our blue skies should bend over no foeman's minions-our fresh, wild winds, that swept mountain and lake and boundless prairie, should kiss no foeman's cheek. With God for their leader, "Liberty" for their battle-cry, they were victorious, and to-day, with all they gained for us still preserved, our borders extended and our wealth increased an hundred fold, we reverently remember to whom, under God, we owe all this, and treasure the memory of the Fathers of the Republic as a sacred thing. Our gratitude is only measurable by our debt to them.

PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATIONS.

As the new government made provision for the election of officers, George Washington was chosen President of the United States, and John Adams, Vice-president.

WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION.

April 30, 1789, to March 4, 1797.-During the administration of Washington the attention of Congress was chiefly devoted to organizing the government on a firm basis. A national judiciary was established; the departments of state, of the treasury and of war were constituted; provisions for levying duties and for internal taxation were framed; a United States Bank was organized; and a Federal loan negotiated in Europe. These measures were not all received with equal approval by the people. Especially that of levying a duty on domestic distilled spirits was unpopular with the inhabitants of western Pennsylvania, with whom whisky was a staple manufacture. They opposed the collection of the tax with arms in their hands, and not until a large military force was sent against them did they submit. This is known as the "Whisky Insurrection" (1791). It was not the only service the military were called upon to perform under this administration. The Indians of the Ohio valley attacked the frontier settlements in 1790, and defeated the regular troops under General Harmar, 1790, and General St. Clair, in 1791. At length, in 1893, in a decisive battle on the Maumee river, General Wayne completely routed them and broke their power. During this period the country constantly increased in prosperity, and the states of North Carolina, Vermont, Tennessee and Kentucky were admitted to the Union.

JOHN ADAMS' ADMINISTRATION (1797 TO 1801).

Washington had been elected by the unanimous voice of the people. But when he retired from office, the two great parties, the Federalists, who were conservative, attached to the views of Washington, and opposed to the sentiments of the French Revolution, and Anti-federalists, radical Democrats, each struggled for the mastery, John Adams, the Federal candidate was elected President, and Thomas Jefferson, Vice-president, Early in this administration, war with France was threatened. Provoked because they could not embroil the United States in a war with England, the French Directory insulted the American Envoy at Paris, authorized the capture of American Vessels by