HIS LIFE AND WORK 



mothers had spent at least three centuries in 

 developing. 



On one occasion Dr. John Hall of New York, 

 seeing how Mr. McCormick was worried by 

 political obligations, said to him: 



"Why do you plague yourself with these 

 uncongenial things ? What glory can you hope 

 to get from politics that will add to what you 

 now possess as the inventor of the Reaper?" 



"Dr. Hall," replied Mr. McCormick, "I am 

 in politics because I cannot help it. There are 

 certain principles that I have got to stand 

 by, and I am obliged to go into politics to 

 defend them." 



The form of Mr. McCormick's religious faith 

 had been forged by such preacher-patriots as 

 John Knox and Andrew Melville; and he, like 

 them, found it as imperative upon his conscience 

 to fight for both civil and religious liberty. 

 With his whole heart he believed in American 

 institutions as they had been established by the 

 nation-builders of 1776. He did not want the 

 Constitution to be ignored by Federal reformers, 

 nor the Union to be broken by secession. He 



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