Chapter XVI: Standards of American Patriotism

I. FOUNDATIONS

The fundamental statement of American democracy and freedom is to be found in the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence and in the preamble of the Constitution. That keynote of humanity there expressed is as follows:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

The unity of purpose, hereditary in responsibility to all native Americans, and sworn to as the accepted duty of all naturalized citizens, is expressed in the last sentence of the Declaration:

“And, for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

The preamble of the Constitution reaffirms and reinforces the American ideal of a progressive and perfective striving toward a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

It is as follows:

“We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.”

The oath of allegiance into which we are born, and which becomes the measure of every possible American, contains the following inescapable responsibility:

“I, ----, do solemnly affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

II. FREEDOM OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

The Farewell Address of Washington to Congress contains advice on our foreign relations which is part of any study of his life. The most important of this is as follows: “The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.

“Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none, or a very remote, relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

“Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

“Why forego the advantages of as peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?

“It is our duty to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs that honesty is always the best policy.

“Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.”

Washington in his will, disposing of his swords, says, “These swords are accompanied with an injunction not to unsheath them for the purpose of shedding blood except it be for self-defense, or in defense of their country and its rights, and in the latter case to keep them unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in their hands to the relinquishment thereof.”

Related to the Farewell Address and as a corollary to it is what is known as “The Monroe Doctrine.”

The “Monroe Doctrine” as a policy of the United States is founded upon two passages in President Monroe’s message to Congress on Dec. 2, 1823. These passages follow:

“In the discussion to which this interest has given rise, and
in the arrangements by which they may terminate, the occasion
has been deemed proper for asserting, as a principle in which
rights and interests of the United States are involved, that
the American continents, by the free and independent condition
which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be
considered as subjects for future colonization by any European
power....

“We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations
existing between the United States and those powers to declare
that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend
their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to
our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or
dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and
shall not interfere. But with the governments who have
declared their independence and maintain it, and whose
independence we have, on great consideration and on just
principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition
for the purpose of oppressing them or controlling in any other
manner their destiny by any European power in any other light
than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward
the United States.”

Two notable explanations have been given, as follows:

Secretary of State Olney in his dispatch of July 20, 1895, on the Venezuelan boundary dispute, said:

“It (the Monroe Doctrine) does not establish any general
protectorate by the United States over other American States.
It does not relieve any American State from its obligations as
fixed by international law, nor prevent any European power
directly interested from enforcing such obligations or from
inflicting merited punishment for the breach of them.”

President Roosevelt, in a speech in 1902 upon the results of the Spanish-American war, said:

“The Monroe Doctrine is simply a statement of our very firm
belief that the nations now existing on this continent must be
left to work out their own destinies among themselves, and that
this continent is no longer to be regarded as the colonizing
ground of any European power. The one power on the continent
that can make the power effective is, of course, ourselves; for
in the world as it is, a nation which advances a given
doctrine, likely to interfere in any way with other nations,
must possess the power to back it up, if it wishes the doctrine
to be respected.”

President Wilson in an address to the Senate of the United States, Jan. 22, 1917, advised an American interest in an extension of the Monroe Doctrine. The main points were as follows:

“No peace can last, or ought to last, which does not recognize
and accept the principle that governments derive all their
just powers from the consent of the governed, and that no right
anywhere exists to hand people about from sovereignty to
sovereignty as if they were property.

“I am proposing, as it were, that the nations should with one
accord adopt the doctrine of President Monroe as the doctrine
of the world: That no nation should seek to extend its policy
over any other nation or people, but that every people should
be left free to determine its own policy, its own way of
development, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid, the little
along with the great.”

III. THE LOYALTY OF YOUTH

Rome and Greece in their age of world dominion were great because of the loyalty and nobility of their youth. Patriotism is by no means a modern virtue, and it is often wondered if the youth of the new world is alive to their country’s honor equal to the youth of the ancient world.

An example of that ancient patriotism may be shown in the oath of the young men of Athens. It is as follows:

“We will never bring disgrace to this our city by any act of
dishonesty or cowardice, nor ever desert our suffering comrades
in the ranks. We will fight for the ideals and sacred things of
the city, both alone and with many; we will revere and obey the
city’s laws and do our best to incite a like respect and
reverence in those about us who are prone to annul or set them
at naught; we will strive unceasingly to quicken the public’s
sense of civic duty. Thus in all these ways we will transmit
this city not only not less but greater, better and more
beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”

The young men of revolutionary times were full of “the Spirit of ’76.” During the troublous days of near-war with France, in the administration of John Adams, the young men were eager to sustain their country’s honor. As a good example, we may read with profit the address of the Harvard College students, which was published in _The Boston Centinel_, May 19, 1798:

“ADDRESS TO HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN ADAMS, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES

“Sir: We flatter ourselves you will not be displeased at
hearing that the walls of your native seminary are now
inhabited by youth possessing sentiments congenial with your
own. We do not pretend to great political sagacity; we wish
only to convince mankind that we inherit the intrepid spirit
of our ancestors and disdain submission to the will of a
rapacious, lawless and imperious nation. Though removed from
active life, we have watched with anxiety the interests of our
country. We have seen a nation in Europe grasping at universal
conquest, trampling on the laws of God and nations,
systematizing rapine and plunder, destroying foreign
governments by the strength of her arms or the pestilence of
her embraces and scattering principles which subvert social
order, raise the storms of domestic faction and perpetuate the
horrors of revolution. We have seen this same nation violating
our neutral rights, spurning our pacific proposals, her
piratical citizens sweeping our ships from the seas and venal
presses under her control pouring out torrents of abuse on men
who have grown gray in our service. We have seen her ministers
in this country insulting our government by a daring,
unprecedented and contemptuous appeal to the people, and her
agents at home offering conditions which slaves whose necks
have grown to the yoke would reject with indignation. We have
seen this, sir, and our youthful blood has boiled within us.
When, in opposition to such conduct, we contemplate the
measures of our own government, we cannot but admire and
venerate the unsullied integrity, the decisive prudence and
dignified firmness which have uniformly characterized your
administration. Impressed with these sentiments, we now
solemnly offer the unwasted ardor and unimpaired energies of
our youth to the service of our country. Our lives are our
only property; and we were not the sons of those who sealed
our liberties with their blood if we would not defend with
these lives that soil which now affords a peaceful grave to
the mouldering bones of our forefathers.”

That address lets us into the feeling of patriotism that animated the people in the days of Washington and the making of America. We can easily imagine the makers of that address as being fired with fervor from the eloquence of Patrick Henry, the bold assertions of Thomas Paine, and the unanswerable logic of Thomas Jefferson.

Only a few years before, in the dark hours of his country, Thomas Paine had put new life into the sorely pressed people by his patriotic pamphlets, from one of which we quote these words:

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier
and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the
service of his country; but he that stands it _now_ deserves
the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is
not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us,
that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: ’tis dearness
only that gives everything its value.

“Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it
would be strange indeed if so celestial article as _freedom_
should not be highly rated.”

Washington’s labor was likewise lightened by the inspiring
patriotism of many other noble makers of the new America.
Thomas Jefferson, who became the third president, was of
priceless service. His call to American patriotism may be well
illustrated in a few of his most quoted statements:

“The man who loves his country on its own account, and not
merely for its trappings of interest or power, can never be
divorced from it, can never refuse to come forward when he
finds that it is engaged in dangers which he has the means of
warding off.”

“The first foundations of the social compact would be broken
up were we definitely to refuse to its members the protection
of their persons and property while in their lawful pursuits.”

“The persons and property of our citizens are entitled to the
protection of our government in all places where they may
lawfully go.”

“We must make the interest of every nation stand surety for
their justice, and their own loss to follow injury to us as
effect follows its cause.”

“The times do certainly render it incumbent on all good
citizens, attached to the rights and honor of their country,
to bury in oblivion all internal differences and rally round
the standard of their country in opposition to the outrages of
foreign nations.”

“We are alarmed with the apprehensions of war, and sincerely
anxious that it may be avoided; but not at the expense either
of our faith or our honor.”

“It is an eternal truth that acquiescence under insult is not
the way to escape war.”

“When wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be
borne, resistance becomes morality.”