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TIMOTHY DWIGHT IV (1752-1817). Dwight was an American educator, Congregationalist minister, author, and the 8th President of Yale College from 1795-1817. D. 9 pages. 6 x 9. July 25, 1776. Yale. A contemporary copy of The following passages excerpted from Dr. Dwights valedictory address to the young Gentlemen who commenced Bachelors of Arts at Yale College July 25th, 1776, are strongly characteristic of the spirit & sentiment which has made the United States of America a great and independent and industrious & Virtuous Nation. This is a draft of the commencement address of Dr. Timothy Dwight IV, who was then a tutor at Yale College. The full remarks can be found transcribed online, but this document includes key passages in near-final form from the first half and the concluding paragraph. Delivered just weeks after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Dwights speech highlights the strength of this new nation and the necessity of the graduates to preserve and lead it. The scribe is unknown: Were all these blessings bestowed on a country, which, like many in the world, was incapable of enjoying them generally, by reason of a destitution of convenience for navigation and commerce, a principal part of their value would be lost. But heaven, resolving that all the circumstances of this continent should be of a piece, has blessed it with naval and commercial advantages, superior to those of any state on earth. Its seacoasts reach on both sides many thousands of miles. Its harbours [sic] are safe, spacious, and innumerable. From these an easy, advantageous and unlimited intercourse may be extended to every corner of the globeBut all this is insufficient to complete the felicity of a country. If even these blessings; great as they are, were insecure; if they were naturally exposed to the ravages of enemies, and the desolations of war, the inhabitants would be miserable, amid all the indulgence of heaven. But to finish the superiority of North-America over every other country, the MOST HIGH has replenished it with every source of strength and greatness. Its present circumstances, which arise from events altogether political and accidental, are no objection to this account. For a war like this cannot with any probability be a second time expected. I proceed therefore to observe that, beside the inconceivable wealth and power, which must necessarily roll in upon this infant empire, from an unbounded commerce, our internal supplies are of every kind; and inexhaustible. Dwight later argues that a chief benefit of the United States is homogeneity amongst its people: I proceed then to observe that our part of the American Continentis inhabited by a people, who have the same language manners & interests & the same essential principles of civil government. Yet even with this promise, happiness and prosperity can only be perpetuated if citizens like the graduates serve their new nation: Let us therefore by Virtue & perseverance in what is wise & good endeavor to cooperate with this brilliant design and to hasten the days where there shall no longer be any war, and when Man shall be taught to know and to feel what this chief happiness has in the works of Industry & Peace and in the composement [sic] of the Arts of Benevolence This speech, even if not in final form, is a great example of early American rhetoric by a prominent American religious leader. The document is in fine condition.
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