34 2 Presidential Addresses 



stand, before it was ours, was successively the pos 

 session of two mighty empires, Spain and France, 

 whose sons made a deathless record of heroism in 

 the early annals of the New World. No history 

 of the Western country can be written without 

 paying heed to the wonderful part played therein 

 in the early days by the soldiers, missionaries, ex 

 plorers, and traders, who did their work for the 

 honor of the proud banners of France and Castile. 

 While the settlers of English-speaking stock, and 

 those of Dutch, German, and Scandinavian origin 

 who were associated with them, were still clinging 

 close to the Eastern seaboard, the pioneers of Spain 

 and of France had penetrated deep into the hitherto 

 unknown wilderness of the West, had wandered 

 far and wide within the boundaries of what is 

 now our mighty country. The very cities them 

 selves St. Louis, New Orleans, Santa Fe bear 

 witness by their titles to the nationalities of their 

 founders. It was not until the Revolution had 

 begun that the English-speaking settlers pushed 

 west across the Alleghanies, and not until a century 

 ago that they entered in to possess the land upon 

 which we now stand. 



We have met here to-day to commemorate the 

 Hundredth anniversary of the event which more 

 than any other, after the foundation of the Gov 

 ernment and always excepting its preservation, 

 determined the character of our national life 

 determined that we should be a great expanding 



