Volume 4 — THE PACIFIC RAILROAD AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
Reading edition
Letter to the Mayor of Boston, for the Celebration Of July 4, 1853.
Boston, July 1, 1853.
Dear Sir,—It will not be in my power to unite with the City Council of Boston in the approaching celebration of our national anniversary; but I beg to assure you that I am not insensible to the honor of their invitation.
The day itself comes full of quickening suggestions, which can need no prompting from me. And yet, with your permission, I would gladly endeavor to associate at this time one special aspiration with the general gladness. Allow me to propose the following toast.
The Railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific.—Traversing a whole continent, and binding together two oceans, this mighty thoroughfare, when completed, will mark an epoch of human progress second only to that of our Declaration of Independence. May the day soon come!
Believe me, dear Sir, faithfully yours,
Charles Sumner.
Hon. Benjamin Seaver, Mayor, &c.