Excerpt from The Lives and Graves of Our Presidents The seeds of the republic were planted in a distrust of the king. AS that grew, the necessity for self-government became more apparent. Slowly, but absolutely, at last, their loyalty and affection for the king died, and self-government was the one only form of national existence to adopt. They adopted it' in solemn recognition of all that it meant, and so adopting it they realized the momentous Significance and responsibility of the ruler of a free people who lived and acted for them, in the heart of a new continent, growing rapidly in every element of power and greatness, with the eyes of the world turned upon them, and in an age ripe for great revolutions. Their peculiar, and as they thought providential, history deepened the solem nity of what they did. Then, their first president was as a man and a magistrate so almost infinitely above the king they once loved but now loathed, and had done so much, and with such singular devotion to the public good and every high obligation in securing their liberties, that all their old respect for rulers returned to their hearts With increased tenderness and force. The president became more to them than the king ever was. In his person there centered all the profound regard they had learned to cherish for the people, for republican institutions, and the humanity of which they formed a part. The baptism of suffering and sorrow through which they passed in the change from the king to the president gave them one of the great' lessons that went deepest into their hearts, and started in the new nation a tide of profound respect for the chief magistrate who was the people's authority. No other nation ever had so fortunate a beginning, or so rich a pupilage through an infancy abounding in lessons of wisdom and worth, or so grand an entrance into the manhood of national life. Such a beginning prophesied all the greatness, worth and power which have followed. The colonial school of America was rough, but solid and genuine and trained a people such as the world never saw before, as the seed of a new nation and a new era of mankind. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.