THE PROPER NAME FOR THE V. STATES. Jfil 



nisheil from hence. But first let me tell you that by some lately these 

 Northerne Parts are stiled by the Name ot' New-Exgla.nd, as being 

 supposed in the same Latitude with Nona Albion on the Soulli Sea, dis- 

 couered by Sir Francis Drake^ hauing New France on the North, and 

 the Southerne Plantation of Virginia on the South ; New Spaine, New 

 Granada, New Andalusia, being in the same Continent. A Map and 

 late Discouerie hereof was set forth this last yeere by Captaine lohn 

 Smith, with new English names exchanged for the Saluage. It lieth be- 

 twixt 41. and 45. — This present yeere 1616. eight voluntarie ships went 

 thither to make further triall : and hereafter wee hope to haue English 

 Colonies renued, in this Northerly Plantation newly called New-Eng- 

 land." p. 940. 



Secondly, Virginia was the germ out of which our nation and our 

 national institutions were developed. It was there our tirst colony was 

 planted. There our free form of representative government was first 

 established, when in 1610 Governor Yeardly convened the first General 

 Assembly, which was composed in part of the freely chosen represen- 

 tatives of eleven different boroughs. This was a year before the land- 

 ing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Virginia, too, first drew the sword 

 for the common defence of the Colonies, when Geo. Washington was 

 appointed Commander in Chief of the army of Congress. And it was 

 the hand of a Virginian that wrote, and his lips that first uttered the 

 ''Declaration of Independence," the charter of American liberty. 



Thirdly, during the whole of our national existence Virginia has 

 been the dominant State of the Union. During the Revolution she fur- 

 nished the man around whom alone all hearts and all energies could be 

 rallied as the leader of our armies. Since then, down to the present 

 day, she has continued to fill the Presidential chair with her sons for 

 more than one-half of the period of our independent national existence, 

 having given us four Presidents, and the late Vice-president, whose ad- 

 ministrations cover 36 out of the 69 years of independence. We might 

 show this ascendency of the ''Old Dominion" in various other ways, 

 but this will sufilce. 



Fourthly, there is no other national name that has an equal claim to 

 our acceptance. ''Yankees" is a soubriquet which can never be eleva- 

 ted to the dignity of a national name, nor has it the corresponding word 

 which would designate our country. "New England" has never been 

 a])plied to more than a part of this country, and tlie combination of the 

 adjective with the substantive makes it objectionable. Besides, our pop- 

 ulation is from almost every nation under heaven, and a large body of 

 them feel no ambition to be called English, nor even Anglo-Americans. 

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