Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Delegates' Reports to the Sons of the Revolution: In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Further, not only does the new constitution come to us with a despotic claim which no State Society could admit without destruction of its dignity and proper independence, but it was forced through theconvention in a manner which called forth this very impressive pro test at the time from Mr. Caldwell, of Tennessee: As a matter of sentiment, the Tennessee Society is perfectly willing to have the union, if we can have it upon a proper basis and under proper conditions for our Society. But we do not think that union is so important that our own Society should be disrupted in order to have union. That is our position, but in that we defer to those of you who are older societies. We come here and find that this Society is separated into two distinct parties, two different factions. We View with consternation the fact of jealousies which seem to be irreconcila ble, and we see methods which are almost political. I don't say this as criticising anybody. I would not venture to criticise anyone. My attitude is one of apprehension, not of reprehension. I repeat, we view it with consternation and regret, and it seems to me, speak ing from the point of view of a comparative outsider, for that is really our attitude up to the present time, that we are really con fronted by this question: N ot, shall we have unity by uniting the two Societies? But, shall we continue to have two societies, one the Sons of the American Revolution and the other the Sons of the Revolution? Or, shall we have two societies, one made up of the Sons of the American Revolution and a part of the Sons of the Revolution, and another of the remnant of the Sons of the Revolu tion? Now, as an outsider, I say that is the way the matter presents itself to me not that I advocate any such thing. We are all perfectly willing to have the majority adopt any proper basis, but it seems to me we are confronted with the question whether or not we will divide our Society into two parts. We do not believe we ought to go that far. We do not believe that union ought to be had at such a cost. I say for myself, if I had discovered that there was a very serious dissension here, I would cast my vote against union. When I came, I discovered two irreconcilable factions, and I see the evidences of that Spirit in this room and outside of this room, and I am bound to believe that my duty to this Society, to which I owe my allegiance, is to cast my vote against this effort for union.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
