Pronounced at any crisis of our history, it would have become a text for the student.

In this sketch he analyzed the causes which contributed to form our national character and to establish a government founded on justice and on equal rights.

He showed how, united by a common and imminent danger, the thirteen States succeeded in asserting and obtaining independence without the aid of a central and efficient government, and the difficulties which were encountered when a voluntary surrender of a part of their immense sovereignty became necessary as a condition of national existence.

He said that the doctrine that all powers should emanate from the people is not a question of expediency.
In this address he summed up the reasons why Washington exercised such a beneficial influence upon the destinies of his country.

In a confidential letter to his wife in 1797, he expressed an opinion that the father of his country was not a good-natured and amiable man, but time had mellowed these recollections and softened the asperity of this judgment.