Final Triumph of the Union Party.
This final triumph of the Union party in these first-formed frontier
States was fraught with immeasurable good for them and for the whole
nation of which they became parts. It established a precedent for the
action of all the other States that sprang into being as the frontier
rolled westward. It decided that the interior of North America should
form part of one great Republic, and should not be parcelled out among a
crowd of English-speaking Uruguays and Ecquadors, powerful only to
damage one another, and helpless to exact respect from alien foes or to
keep order in their own households. It vastly increased the significance
of the outcome of the Revolution, for it decided that its after-effects
should be felt throughout the entire continent, not merely in the way of
example, but by direct impress. The creation of a nation stretching
along the Atlantic seaboard was of importance in itself, but the
importance was immensely increased when once it was decided that the
nation should cover a region larger than all Europe.
Excuses for Some of the Separatists.
While giving unlimited praise to the men so clearsighted, and of such
high thought, that from the beginning they foresaw the importance of the
Union, and strove to include all the West therein, we must beware of
blaming overmuch those whose vision was less acute.
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