In those early years of crisis and excitement, “the jealousy, envy, and avarice” that were part of human nature were “smothered and rendered inactive,” and the “deep-rooted principles of hate, and the powerful motive of revenge” were directed exclusively at Britain. But that heightened state in which the Declaration had been promulgated was fading in people’s memories. The original “pillars of the temple of liberty” had “crumbled away.” It was left to the present generation to replace them with new pillars.[25]
