The Jubilee of the Constitution

Delivered before the New York Historical Society in 1839, this oration marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Constitution with a flourish of imagination and reverence. The speaker weaves a vivid tableau of George Washington’s inaugural oath, portraying the founding moment as a celestial ceremony in which the fledgling nation receives armor forged from piety, justice, and the self‑evident truths of the Declaration. The language is richly metaphorical, casting the Constitution itself as a heavenly shield bearing the future history of the United States.

Beyond the ceremony, the address surveys the diverse origins of the thirteen colonies—English settlers, Dutch, Swedish, German, and French refugees—and the hardships that forged their collective yearning for liberty. It recounts the clash with British authority, the resistance to taxation without representation, and the rallying cries of early champions of trial by jury and habeas corpus. Listeners will be drawn into a stirring portrait of America’s formative struggles, celebrating the ideals that the Constitution was intended to protect.