Excerpt from Select National Portraits, Vol. 1 of 1: With Biographical Sketches Our commonwealth possesses no richer treasure than the fair fame of her children. In the revolutions of empires, the present institutions of our land may perish, and new ones, perhaps more perfect, may arise; but the glory of our national existence cannot pass away, so long as the names of those who, in it, enlarged the boundaries of knowledge, gave tone to its morals, framed its laws, or fought its battles, are remembered with gratitude. The men who stamp the impressions of their genius or their virtues on their own times, influence also those which follow, and they become the benefactors of after ages and of remote nations. Of such the memorials should be carefully collected and preserved; and Americans, above all others, owe it to their country and to the world to perpetuate such records, while it is possible to separate truth from fiction, in all that relates to those who laid the foundation of the republic - who have sustained it by their wisdom, or adorned it by their talents. It should be constantly borne in mind that our country stands conspicuous among nations, as a fair daughter amidst a family of elder sons; that as a nation it has passed through no age of fabulous obscurity, nor useless years of feeble infancy, but stepped forth at maturity, in the panoply of war, like Minerva from the brain of Jove. In its history there is no blank; it is full of striking incidents, of original theories, and of bold experiments. In its government it has exhibited, and is still demonstrating to the world, under new and peculiar aspects, the ability of men to rule themselves, and to protect their own rights without injury to the rights of others. The men whose names are inscribed with honor on the pages of American history, were fitted to the times and the occasions which called them forth; they were men of iron nerves and fearless hearts, of devoted action and incorruptible integrity, of splendid talents and practical common sense; who lived for the glory of their country and the happiness of their race. 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.