Quote by Daniel Webster
Other misfortunes may be borne, or their effects overcome. If disastrous war should sweep our commerce from the ocean, another generation may renew it; if it exhaust our treasury, future industry may replenish it; It were but a trifle even if the walls of yonder Capitol were to crumble, if its lofty pillars should fall, and its gorgeous decorations be all covered by the dust of the valley. All these might be rebuilt. But who shall reconstruct the fabric of demolished government? Who shall rear again the well-proportioned columns of constitutional liberty? No, if these columns fall, they will be raised not again. they will be the remnants of a more glorious edifice than Greece or Rome ever saw, the edifice of constitutional American liberty.
Summary
This quote emphasizes the importance of protecting and preserving a functioning government built upon constitutional liberty. It suggests that while other losses or damages can be overcome or rebuilt, the destruction of a democratic government and its essential principles of freedom and rights cannot be easily reconstructed. The quote calls attention to the idea that the American government is an exceptional and unique establishment, and the collapse of its fundamental structures would signify the loss of a remarkable institution in human history.
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