A Pamphlet Containing The Full History Of The Celebration Of The Ninety Ninth Anniversary Of American Independence In Atlanta July 4th 1875 Classic Reprint

Excerpt from A Pamphlet Containing the Full History of the Celebration of the Ninety-Ninth Anniversary of American Independence in Atlanta, July 4th, 1875 The number of letters from Georgia's most distinguished men, written in response to the Committee of Invitation, and published day after day in the Atlanta Herald, were copied far and wide, and variously commented upon. The speeches of Governor James M. Smith and the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, the Centennial poem by Col. J. A. Stewart, the immense crowd, the hundreds of incidents, and the various ceremonies, furnished column after column of interesting matter. For these letters, and the history of the day's celebration, such continuous application has been made, that although several editions of the Herald containing them were struck off, the demand was not satisfied. Applications for the account of the proceedings pour in from all sections of the State, and all States of the Union. To fill this demand, and answer these applications, is the object of this pamphlet. There will be found in its pages much to gratify the true lover of this Republic. For a decade previous to the present year, the 4th of July has commanded no attention from the masses, and nothing but sneers from the leaders. The Atlanta Herald, a Democratic paper always, but one thoroughly convinced that it was essential to the prosperity of either section of this Union, and doubly so to the prosperity of the whole, that full and perfect amity should exist between them, and one that hoped that this amity would soon be established despite the politicians of North and South, attempted, in '73 and '74 to revive an interest in the 4th of July, and secure its hearty observance at the hands of Georgians. In both instances it failed, and encountered sharp criticism on all sides. Never, until the present, were the people ready for full reconciliation. But now they are ready. They have turned their backs upon the past, and the light of the future is breaking upon their resolute faces, upturned to meet it. They ask for nothing but justice and wisdom in the administration of the general government. They demand nothing but that the States shall be equal. These conditions being fulfilled, Georgia will yield to no State, North or South, in her love for the Union and her devotion to its flag. No better answer, it seems to us, could be found - no fuller answer desired, to the slanders which Radical politicians are daily heaping upon the South than the letters, speeches and incidents found in this little pamphlet. Those who know anything of the history of Georgia will see that her very best men, including all of her former Governors now living, her present Governor, her ex-Senators and her Senators, her Judges, her Congressmen, her State Senator's and Representatives, have indorsed fully and heartily, in their letters, the celebration herein described, while the speech of Mr. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, is full of noble and patriotic sentiments. The names of those who opposed the spirit of the occasion may be counted on the fingers of the left hand. The pamphlet being issued to meet a temporary demand, has been hastily put together, and the publishers rely upon the nobility of the sentiment contained therein to atone for any awkwardness of arrangement. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com