Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Memorial: In Support of the Nomination of the Name of Sir William Pepperrell, to Be Inscribed in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans
One colonial should be selected. As Freeman said in his lecture on George Washington (feb. 22, Men like them had gone before him; his work needed theirs as its fore runner; Virginia, Massachusetts and their fellows needed to be called into being, before he should come, whose calling was to weld them into one greater whole. It is essential to the true perspective of American history that we should give prominence and dignity to the great colonials.' They did work of permanent importance not only for their own country, but for the world. It is hard to over-estimate the in?uence of the American system of government upon public sentiment and institutions throughout the civilized world. Of this system they laid the foundation.
The name of one of these colonials has been inscribed in the Hall of Fame, Jonathan Edwards. He represents the Puritan, Calvinistic element on its religious side. What gave him fame was his treatise on the freedom of the will. It is certainly a work of extraordinary acumen. It was well, we may frankly admit, to place a representative of that side of the Colonial character on our roll of American worthies. But may we not fairly say that this metaphysical side was not the only important side? The great Roman said that the founding of a commonwealth was awork most pleasing to the gods. Certainly Americans will agree that the foundation of our American commonwealth was well pleasing to the Almighty, who is the God at once of justice, of freedom, of law and of mercy. It is a serious omission, that there should not be in the Hall of Fame the name of one of these great founders, whose death occurred before the Revolution.
It is natural that the lustre of the great names of men who achieved their fame after the Declaration of Independence should have obscured for a time that of those under whose guidance and leadership the thirteen colonies attained the strength and mutual understanding, without which the revolution would have been a failure, and American independence impossible.
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