Shall this, their lofty scene, be acted o’er
In states unborn, and accents yet unknown?”
It will be acted o’er, but it never can be repeated. It stands, and must forever stand, alone; a beacon on the summit of the mountain, to which all the inhabitants of the earth may turn their eyes for a genial and saving light, till time shall be lost in eternity, and this globe itself dissolves, nor leave a wreck behind. It stands forever, a light of admonition to the rulers of men, a light of salvation and redemption to the oppressed. So long as this planet shall be inhabited by human beings, so long as man shall be of social nature, so long as government shall be necessary to the great moral purposes of society, so long as it shall be abused to the purposes of oppression—so long shall this Declaration hold out to the sovereign and to the subject the extent and boundaries of their respective rights and duties, founded in the laws of nature and of nature’s God.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE[7]
BY TUDOR JENKS
“What is the most dramatic incident in American history and why?”
The emphatic and determining word in this question is the adverb “most.” To answer conclusively, the method must be comparative; it is not enough to stir the emotions of patriotism, to excite the imagination of the poetic soul, to depict with skill bygone scenes so that they live again. The intellectual faculties must be satisfied that the chosen incident is truly an incident, that it is dramatic, and that it is more dramatic than all others in our history.
Definition seems but a poor prelude to the drama, but as the defender of the Constitution began his reply to Hayne by asking for the reading of the resolution before the Senate, it may be permissible to refer to the dictionary for guidance, as the storm-tossed mariner of Webster’s metaphor glanced at the sun to rectify his course.
“Incident,” as used in the given question, can mean only “something which takes place in connection with an event or series of events of greater importance” (Century Dictionary), since any broader meaning of the word would be too inclusive, and might permit the naming of a whole epoch.
“Dramatic” (by the same author) is “characterized by the force and animation in act or expression appropriate to the drama.” Force and animation may of course be psychical or physical; but if psychical they must find expression in some form appreciable by the senses, else they are not dramatic.