Each generation is familiar with its predecessor;
but of the one next remote it knows only the marked characters. Those
who possessed great physical excellences remain; but they are not so
much the representatives of their generation as its exceptions. The
weak, the diseased, have fallen by the way; and, as there is an intimate
connection between physical and intellectual power, the remnant of any
generation, whatever its common character, will retain a
disproportionate number of strong-minded men. Hence it is not safe to
judge a generation as a whole by those who remain at the age of sixty or
seventy years; especially if we reflect that public opinion and
tradition are most likely to preserve the names and qualities of those
who were distinguished for physical or mental power. Yet, after making
due allowance for these exaggerations, I cannot escape the conclusion
that we have, as a people, deteriorated in average sound political
learning; and I proceed to mention some of the causes and evidences of
our degeneracy, and of the superiority of our ancestors.
I. _The political condition of the country has been essentially
changed._--General personal and family comfort, according to the ideas
now entertained, was not a feature of American society for one hundred
and seventy years from the settlement at Plymouth. Life was a continual
contest--a contest with the forest, with the climate, with the Indians,
and especially was it a continual contest with the mother country.
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