The Genealogy Corner - Articles and Books

Campaign Article or Speech by Hamlet Totten (?)

This manuscript was found in the attic of my family's home in Rural Valley, which at one time belonged to my great-great grandfather Hamlet Totten. Smith's "History of Armstrong County" states on p. 490 that Hamlet Totten was nominated for County Auditor on the Republican ticket around 1856, and his autobiographic sketch states that he was elected to County Auditor twice, for a term of six years. I have been unable to determine the years in which he was in office. The manuscript does not identify the author but I think it likely that Hamlet Totten wrote it for a political campaign during the Civil War.

In one of the most stormy periods of the world's history, the United States assumed a rank among the nations. All Europe was convulsed with the effects of the French revolution. And fortunately for this country the waves of the Atlantic rolled between it & the fury of the European battlegrounds. And the advice of Washington to keep aloof from the dangerous contest was strictly adhered to. And thus while the European nations were slaughtering & devouring each other, the United States were fast rising to a degree of eminence.

Our nationality arose from & was the legitimate offspring of enlightened & liberal religion. Our honored ancestry fleeing from the storms of persecution in the old world sought in the new freedom to worship God. But our infancy was warily watched by the demon of despotism and fearful were the efforts made to crush us in the cradle. Remove this indestructable basis which supports the fair fabric of our political institutions and we have no government. The history of the world confirms the fact that a nations religion moulds the character of its government. A despotic superstitious & blood thirsty system of religion will form & fashion its political economy after the same model.

So a pure & divinely authorized religion has ever been the material source of pure, liberal & happy civil government. Our noble ancestry have founded & bequeathed to us the very best form of government upon the earth. The heart of our magnanimous country [illeg] to the sighs & sorrows of all nations. Our land is the home for the oppressed of all nations, our laws are the transcripts of eternal justice. The emoluments of profit & honor are offered to the deserving of all classes & our loftiest positions are accessible to the humblest poor, our ministers of mercy have gone to every heathen shore & preached the glad tidings to almost every island that dots the bosom of the ocean. Beams of light rachating [sic] from this central home of civil & religious liberty already break upon the distant millions that weep in the shadow of darkness. When the noble Greek is crushed by the hoof of Turkish despotism, the halls of our senate are eloquent with a sympathy that responds in the bosom of the whole people. When Poland, Hungary, & Italy struggle & fall, the hope of the American people struggles & falls with them. When the cry of starvation is heard from ill-fated Ireland American transports are freighted with the magnificent offerings of a generous people & moved by a magnanimity which knows no parallell [sic] our swift-ships are dispatched to recover Englands lost navigations in the regions of eternal snow. We have one God, one Saviour, one religion, one constitution, one confederacy, one republic, & one nationality. Therefore our union of sentiments our true religion & true civil government has been the great secret of our growth & prosperity as a nation.

And my countrymen, our once happy & prosperous nation is enveloped in a dark cloud. The dismal clouds of civil war with all their horrors have gathered round us & are drenching our land with the blood of our own countrymen. The storm is raging in all its fury. The contending armies like two towering clouds culminating in the heavens drenched with electric rain shock the world with their collision & bathe our land in blood. But though a terrible effort is being made by the foes of religious liberty & republican form of government, to destroy our happy union, our trust is in that same Almighty Being who gave us an existance [sic] as a nation, who stood by us in the dark days of the revolutionary struggle & who will bring us out of these trials like gold that is tried in the fire purified, refined free from dross and with the dark stain of slavery erased from our nations character & our union firmer than when first formed.

The question which we will attempt to discuss is one that should enlist the attention of every true patriot & lover of this country.

Is the union of the American States firmer now than when first formed.

The present distracted condition of our country might appear to some to present an almost insurmountable barrier to the affirmative of this question. It is true that stuborn [sic] facts stare us in the face. But their difficulties do not assume such a terrible appearance & are easily disposed of when the question is weighed in a just ballance [sic] & the subject thoroughly investigated.

The question is so plain that it need scarcly [sic] be defined. The only point which needs any explanation or in which there is any possibliity of an error is in fixing the date at which the union was first formed. The union was first formed when the first Articles of Confederation were entered into by the colonies. And this from history we learn to have been in the year 1777.

At the time of the rebellion of the colonies they were united by no bonds but those of their common danger & common love of liberty. In order to render the times of their union somewhat deffinate [sic], a committee was appointed to Scotch the principals of the union or confederation; this comittee presented a report of thirteen Articles of Confederation & proposed that instead of calling themselves the united colonies they should assume the name of the U. S. of America. These Articles of Confederation were adopted by the colonies on the 15th day of November 1777, and remained in force as the constitution of the country until the adaption of the Federal constitution in 1788. We think it is sufficiently plain from authentic history that the union was first formed on the 15th day of Nov. 1777 the time at which the articles of confederation were adopted (or ratified) by the colonies. Then let us look for a moment at the firmings [?] of the union when first formed.

If that union had been sufficiently firm, why was it that 11 years after a new constitution was formed & firmer bonds of union entered into. This first union or articles of confederation was only a league for mutual defence [sic] against the aggressions of Great Britain & was lacking in the most essential things necessary to bind together & meet the demands of the nation, the main object of the union at first being to resist the oppressions of England & procure our independence. No provision being made for the various demands & wants of the growing nation these soon became so numerous & so pressing that it was found necessary to do away with the articles of confederation which all plainly saw was not sufficiently firm to hold the States together & unite in firmer bonds by adopting a new constitution. Such as would unite them together perpetually. And the introduction of the Federal constitution "We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union to ordain & establish this constitution of the U. S. of America" This expression "In order to form a more perfect union" gives us the idea that the old articles of confederation by which the union was first formed was not suficiently firm to preserve the union.

All who are acquainted with our nations early history know that after peace was concluded with Great Britain our country was threatened with ruin by internal dissentions. The soldiers from having large arrears of pay due them & many of them not money enough to supply their most pressing wants, were in a state of high dissatisfaction & irritation. The claims of those who had toiled, fought & suffered in the arduous conflict were strongly urged [?] and the government had neither the resources for the power to supply them. Taxes could not be collected & the wealth of the country had been exhausted by the war and had not Washington by his sound reasoning & high influential character succeeded in dissipating the gathering storm, the country might have been overrun & ruined by the same army that procured its independence. In 1784 in Massachusetts where laws were passed for the collection of taxes the discontent was so great as to lead to open rebellion. The same spirit of dissatisfaction was manifested in New Hampshire & the legislature itself was menaced by the populace.

The evils resulting from the weakness & inefficiency of the first confederation had become so intolerable that the voice of the nation called out for relief the wise and reflecting were convinced that some decided efforts were necessary to strengthen the general government or that a dissolution of the union & the establishment of a despotic form of government would be inevitable.

When the old articles of confederation by which the union was first formed proved inefficient a new constitution was found necessary which in its own language which we have already quoted "formed a more perfect union." Then certainly the union is made firmer by the federal constitution than by the articles of confederation by which it was first formed. This being admitted the only plausible argument my opponent can produce is that the present rebellion indicates a dissatisfaction & weakness in the union. And I presume that on this very point he will direct the main force of his arguments. This breach in the union doubtless appears large enough to us all now, but when you observe it through the magnifying glass of my worthy opponent's arguments its dimensions will be far beyond all comprehension.

In answer to this very plausible argument which my opponent will doubtlessly take hold of, I would say that if our arms prevail then the union is as firm as ever but if the attempt at disunion & to over throw the government be successful then the union is destroyed forever. Then since the firmness of the union depends upon the result of the war the question assumes this form. Will the rebellion be successful. Our time at present will permit us to allude only to a few self evident truths as evidence of the hopelessness of the success of the rebellion.

No cause has been given sufficient to justify the attempt to overthrow the noblest & most beneficient government ever established by human wisdom.

The simple election of a man in compliance with the laws & constitution of our country affords no just ground for secession and rebellion (or revolution).

The secession movement was founded on motives purely selfish, the principal men engaged in it have not acted in the matter for the first time. They have cherished this purpose for a long time and only seized this opportunity to carry it out and would have been disappointed if Mr. Lincoln had been defeated as the most potent arguments for secession would have been wanting. Their principal object is to extend & perpetuate institutions that are directly opposed to God's word. And as we believe there is a Ruler of the destinies of nations. Such wicked & unholy purposes must come to naught.

In regard to strength the government is decidedly superior to the rebel states. Our population is near 20,000,000 while their free people is but 6,000,000 which gives us a majority of 14,000,000 or a population more than three times as great. Again, the rebel have [sic] strained every nerve & exerted their utmost strength. By the conscription act they have brought all their available force into the field, and they are still unable to invade our soil. Their best hope is dying within them.

But our government has never become thoroughly aroused. She has never clothed herself in her robes of strength & with all her power gone out to crush this wicked & unholy rebellion. If it should be necessary for her to resort to the same matter of procuring troops as the south has by bringing every able bodied man into the field she can produce an army of at least 3,000,000 of men; enough to [illeg] the boastful [illeg] south into the Gulf of Mexico & crush the last spark of hope out of the accursed rebels. Where can there be a hope for the success of the rebellion. Bound hand and foot by our own blockade; naked & starving, menaced by a powerfully reinforced enemy just ready to invade them & sweep down any thing that dare to oppose them.

Although their strength may yet be fearful, it will only be [illeg] of wild [?] despair. And now since these facts are[?] strong evidence that the rebellion will not be successful. Our [illeg] constitution will be preserved & remain [illeg line] adopted, which we have already shown was firmer than when first formed by the old Articles of Confederation. Then the union of American States is firmer now than when first formed.

And though subject to storms yet firm & unbroken our confederate republic will remain an undivided unit. No storm cloud in the North, no volcanic eruption in the South will ever divide our great country. And our noble vessel with her live oak timbers may reel and quiver in the dreadful squall but she will never [illeg] founder.

Item's Donor: Estate of Maxine E. Stewart