The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip., January 01, 1927, Page 8, Image 8

January 1927
THE UNITED AMERICAN
Page Eight
The Making of American Citizens
A Comprehensive Review of America’s History and Political Institutions, of Particular Interest and Help to Those
Who are Studying for Naturalization and to Those Who Have Become American Citizens and Are Anxious to
Learn How They May Become Better Qualified to Protect and Defend the Country of Their Adoption.
By A. C. Strange, of Ashland State Normal School.
VIII
THE GETTYSBURG ORATION
'T' HERE ARE FOUR great documents which evers
1 American citizen should carefully and thought­
fully read, not once but many times. These are, the
Declaration of Independence, which was the colonists’
explanation to the peoples of the world of the reasons
why they had rebelled against the English govern­
ment ; the Constitution, which is the fundamental law
and the plan of government of our country, Washing­
ton’s Farewell Address, in which the American citizen
is instructed in his chief civic duties; and Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Oration. In this short, two-minute ad­
dress we have a statement of those foundation prin­
ciples for which America stands.
The document reads as follows: “Fourscore and
seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedi­
cated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and
so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a
great battlefield of that war. We are come to dedicate
a portion of that field as a final resting place for
those who here gave their lives that that nation
might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that
we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we
cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, that ground.
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
have consecrated it, far above our poor power to
add or detract. The world will little note nor long
remember what we say here, but it can never forget
what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather
to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which
they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before us, that from these
honored dead we take increased devotion to that
cause for which they gave the last full measure of
devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died in vain;—that this nation, under
God, shall have a new birth of freedom;—and that
government of the people, by the people, for the
people, shall not perish from the earth.”
As you see in the above, the fundamental principles
of our nation are, liberty of conscience, and govern­
ment of, for and by the whole people.
Let us carefully consider these principles. The
American is free to think and worship as he will; he
has no state church. He is even free to say and
print what he will as long as he does not interfere
with the rights of others. He is free of conduct
within certain reasonable limits set to protect the
life, the liberty, the happiness, and the property of
others. He is free to advance as far as his abilities
will permit, if he. work hard and honestly and show
the needed ability. There is no slavery in America;
every American is a free man. All we ask is obedience
to and respect for the laws created for his and others’
protection.
All Americans are born equal. This does not mean
equal in physical or mental power or inheritance of
property. It means equality in all political rights,
The rich man cannot vote oftener than the poor man.
In the voting place wealth and power is left on the
outside. Here the rich and the poor are equal. Each
may cast but one ballot. One carries no more weight
than the other. It is true that this equality guaranteed
us by the Constitution is often imperfectly secured to
us. This is because we allow weak, selfish men to be
elected to office ; the principles of the government are
sound in this respect ; if they are not well carried out,
the citizens are to blame.
Moreover, ours is a government of the people in
that it had its origin among the people. It was not
the rich alone, not the aristocracy alone, who made it.
The men of the farms and woods and mills, all had
a voice in the making. A majority of all the men
of the colonies felt that England was unfairly treat­
ing them. Hence they rebelled against the officers
sent over by England to rule them, made for them­
selves a makeshift government, and went to war in
its protection. When they had won their independ­
ence, they proceeded to build a new government “con­
ceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that
all men are created equal.” Again let me say that it
was not a self- or class-selected few who did this ; all
citizens, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, had a
voice and a vote in its adoption. And every change
in that Constitution from the first to the eighteenth
amendment has been voted on either by all American
citizens or by their elected representatives. Our
government is truly a government of the people.
It is also a government by the people. We elect
our own officers; we may recall them if they abuse
their powers or prove incapable; we do not re-elect
them if they fail to please us. We make our own laws,
either by voting directly for proposed laws or by
electing men whom we trust to make them for us.
We choose those who are to enforce them and to
explain them. All these officers are responsible di­
rectly to us. We are their masters, their employers.
If they allow graft to creep into government, if their
service is weak, we and we alone are responsible if
they be not removed. Ours is the people’s govern­
ment, not a government for the rich and powerful.
This government is our inheritance from the great
and good man who made it; let us through our votes
loyally uphold it and strive for it.
Moreover, it is a government for the people. We
maintain it to protect our rights. We are happier,
more prosperous, safer, because we have a govern­
ment. Our officers must consider that they are
serving us not merely holding jobs. We must be
(Continued on Page Fourteen)