Excerpt from History of Congress, Biographical and Political: Comprising Memoirs of Members of the Congress of the United States; Drawn From Authentic Sources, Embracing the Prominent Events of Their Lives, and Their Connection With the Political History of the Times We believe we are the first who, by a comprehensive union of biographical memoir with public history, have attempted to bring home to the familiar contemplation of the people of the United States the practical operation of the institutions under which they live; to demonstrate to them, by the examples, we set before their eyes, how much more potent an instrument in the civilization of nations is the schoolmaster than the warrior - the plowshare than the sword! About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.