Transcriber’s Notes:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end.
* * * * *
THE AMERICAN SPIRIT IN THE WRITINGS OF AMERICANS OF FOREIGN BIRTH
* * * * *
The American Spirit in the Writings of Americans of Foreign Birth
SELECTIONS CHOSEN AND EDITED
BY
ROBERT E. STAUFFER, A. M., B. L. S.
[Illustration]
The Christopher Publishing House
Boston, U. S. A.
* * * * *
COPYRIGHT 1922
BY THE CHRISTOPHER PUBLISHING HOUSE
PRINTED IN U. S. A.
* * * * *
To my revered friend and teacher
Joseph Lorain Shunk
And to my younger friend
Henry Praus
The one born in the United States
The other in far-away Czecho-Slovakia
But in both of whom I have found
True and noble manifestations
Of the American spirit
* * * * *
Let us judge our immigrants also out of their own mouths, as future
generations will be sure to judge them.
_Mary Antin._
_He_ is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient
prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life
he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he
holds.... The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he
must therefore entertain new ideas, and form new opinions.
_Crèvecoeur._
Where the schoolhouse banner flaunts the morning breeze,
Where the rough farm student strides amid the wheat,
Where the voice of knowledge fills a thousand halls,
Where the athletes in their mimic warfare meet;
Where the master grasps the brand
Of lightning in his hand,
And the hidden Powers of Air to service bent
Proclaim the issue of the long experiment,
I behold the future race
Arise in strength and grace;
Shall they falter? Shall they fail? Shall they endure?
Lo, the onward march is sure.
_William James Dawson._
INTRODUCTION
A visit to the public library of many towns and cities of five to
twenty thousand inhabitants, and inquiry among persons of considerable
and even college education, reveals a widespread unacquaintance with
the writings of our foreign-born citizens. Seldom does one find the
books of more than four or five of these authors upon the shelves of
the smaller public and college libraries; yet these institutions are
doing much to develop public opinion in countless communities made up
for the most part of native Americans who have hitherto been largely
ignorant of and indifferent to the condition and aims of the foreign
population, but whose intelligent and sympathetic interest in the
foreign-born must be aroused if the great gulf between the two is to be
bridged.
The funds of many libraries, it is true, are so limited as to preclude
the purchase of a majority of these books, worth while as they are;
yet the splendid American spirit to be found in many of them ought
to be more familiar to Americans, whether native or foreign-born.
This volume of selections is offered, therefore, not as an equivalent
for the reading of the complete works here represented, but to help
stimulate a more general interest in their authors and in books of this
type, and to show with a cumulative emphasis the essence of the genuine
Americanism with which these writings are imbued.
As one reads these and other works of the foreign-born in historical
sequence, he will notice that their manner of writing has become less
reflective and philosophical and more critical and impassioned, but
that keeping pace there has been an intense and burning patriotism.
The early colonists and immigrants were seldom touched except in their
political liberties; recent immigrants have been growing increasingly
sensitive to the infringement of their social and economic rights.
This, of course, is a quality not peculiar to the writings of the
foreign-born, but is incident to the modern industrial and social
situation with conditions very different from those obtaining in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The struggle against social
forces with their great complexity and ever renewed and boundless
energy has demanded of the recent immigrants the highest qualities for
success.
Nearly all the selections included in this volume will be found charged
with a strong human quality, revealing the poignant homesickness of the
stranger in a new world, his sensitiveness, his forward-looking hope,
his realization of both the humorous and the tragic side of his case,
his fine hero-worship, his firm belief in the unique mission and high
destiny of his adopted country, and his faith in the brotherhood of man
and the dawning of a new day upon the earth.
It is not within the scope of this introduction to plead for any
particular immigration policy. Whether we shall adopt one of rigid
restriction or assume a liberal attitude, and what shall be the bases
of the selection of the immigrant in the future, are questions to be
answered not by the petty politician, the unscrupulous demagogue,
the uninformed provincial, or the alarmists of little faith who, in
their hysteria, would completely reverse the traditions of the nation
by closing the gates entirely, but are matters to be determined by
fair-minded and representative leaders after a careful and unbiased
study of the problem in its various economic, social and national
aspects. The chief concern here is with our attitude toward the
millions of unassimilated immigrants already among us. To them it would
be well for most of us to give our attention before attempting to solve
the intricate and perplexing question of an immigration policy. Perhaps
if we did, we might get more light and arrive at a more unanimous and
consistent conclusion regarding the admission of those who are now said
to be ready in such great numbers to knock at our gates.
In these selections, it is believed, will be found convincing proof
that to try to educate and Americanize the foreign-born by force is
not only unwise and will prove futile, because it flies in the face of
the principles of human nature, but is also unnecessary. Still, the
dejection on the part of many persons over our apparent failure to
assimilate the immigrant is truly pathetic. But why so much despair
about this, when countless thousands of native Americans have little
or no realizing sense of the duties of citizenship? Who is the more
culpable, the man who, being in a new land and often lonely and
neglected, finds it difficult to overleap the barriers of timidity and
suspicion and a foreign language and strange customs, in order to seize
the larger opportunities; or the man who, though born and reared in the
midst of all the advantages of American life, fails to appreciate his
precious heritage and treats with indifference or abuses the sacred
right of franchise? Certainly hostility and neglect will accomplish
nothing, where hospitality and helpfulness may go far to induce the
newcomers to avail themselves of the opportunities and responsibilities
open to them in America.
An illustration of how readily the foreigner may respond to the least
show of kindness and fellowship is afforded by the following incident.
A traveller on a west-bound train out of New York was accosted by
a young Italian immigrant, who handed him a card of the Italian
Immigration Society on the reverse of which was written, “Please direct
this man to Santa Cruz train.” Now it happened that the American had
once visited Italy and had picked up a smattering of the language, and
partly by this and partly by the use of signs he did his best to convey
the desired information. He then asked the young man into his own seat;
and, as they talked together of Italy and the places the American had
visited, the youth’s face glowed with the joy of remembrance. And
then it was revealed that this sturdy and warm-hearted Italian, from
whom the American might have turned as from a “dago” and “scum of
the earth,” was one of the heroes of the Great War; that he had been
wounded in the terrible disaster of Caporetto, and had received from
the Italian minister of war testimonials and medals for gallant conduct
in battle.
It is at least a question whether a vast amount of time, energy, and
money has not been misspent in a hysterical endeavor to get the adult
immigrant to change his vernacular and foreign ways. Realizing from
my own experience, both as a student and as a teacher of English to
foreigners, the immense effort necessary to acquire even a rudimentary
knowledge of a strange language after the plastic period of youth
has passed, I am convinced that too much stress may be laid upon the
importance of the mere acquisition of the English language by the adult
immigrant.
A change in the manners and customs of the immigrant has undoubtedly a
useful and necessary part in his Americanization; but undue emphasis
upon mere externals may, with its false implications, easily create
erroneous impressions. Just now there comes to mind in this connection
an illustration prominently displayed upon the front page of one of
our most respected periodicals,--a photograph of an immigrant mother
standing between her two sons, one of whom is garbed in American
hat and overcoat, the other in uncouth workaday attire. Beneath the
picture appears this question, “Which is Americanized?” One feels he
must protest against the shallow and all too prevalent thinking which
finds in the mere alteration of language and dress the essentials of
Americanism, and which consequently has so little constructive and
farsighted assistance to give to the momentous work of Americanization.
It has been far too frequently demonstrated that a person may not only
wear American clothes and speak English fluently, but may have been
educated from his youth up in American institutions without being
really Americanized.
The elder generation should, of course, be aided in every reasonable
and practicable way; but it should soberly be borne in mind that it
is going to take decades, if not centuries, to Americanize America,
and that the hope of the nation is in the children, both native and
foreign-born. It is a splendid demonstration of the truth of this that
the most fervid tributes to America come from the lips of those who
have arrived in the United States in the impressionable years of youth.
If, then, the rate of progress toward perfection is to be appreciably
accelerated, there must be much more liberality in the support of the
public schools and other educational and humanizing institutions.
What is an American, or what is Americanism? Many persons to-day are
asking this question, to which perhaps only the future can give a
complete answer. I venture to say, however, that an American is not
one who expects to find in the United States Utopian conditions, but
one who realizes the imperfections of American society and yet has
faith in the ultimate goal toward which the diverse human elements
here are struggling; that he is one who does not seek or propose any
single panacea for the ills of the nation, but who, above all else,
is conscious of his spiritual unity with those American minds that
are striving in the sanest and best, though various, ways for the
attainment of the high ends for which the republic was founded, and
that desire to see the golden rule and “reason and the will of God”
prevail in American life.
And it is just this consciousness of spiritual unity that is perhaps
the most intense and valuable element in the writings of those who
have paid the highest price for their citizenship, and that is so
well worth bringing to the attention of those who, whether native or
foreign-born, have never passed from the “centre of indifference” into
the “everlasting yea” of patriotism and national feeling.
Much available and appropriate material has of necessity been omitted
from this compilation, periodical articles in particular, with two
exceptions, being excluded. But although the selections chosen
constitute the utterances of only a small minority of the foreign-born,
it is felt that their validity and representative character are not
impaired. It must be remembered that there are thousands of American
citizens of foreign birth leading contented and useful lives,--lawyers,
physicians, clergymen, artists, teachers, and craftsmen, whose ideals
and life-work have either not found expression in books, or whose
writings have been impersonal in character, but who, if they were to
write down their feelings, would express themselves in sentiments
similar to those of their gifted compatriots of literary tendencies;
and even among the inarticulate mass there is a potential devotion,
which, under the proper conditions, can be kindled into an ardent
loyalty and patriotism.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, in writing the foreword to one of the
works here quoted: “When we tend to grow disheartened over some of
the developments of our American civilization, it is well worth
while seeing what this same civilization holds for starved and eager
souls who have elsewhere been denied what here we hold to be as a
matter of course, rights free to all--although we do not, as we
should do, make these rights accessible to all who are willing with
resolute earnestness to strive for them.” That in part has been the
aim in bringing these selections together. It is hoped that they may
contribute not a little to a better understanding between America, new
and old, and that they may help to allay the fears of those who have
been inclined to ascribe most of our national ills to the presence
among us of the foreign-born, and who have had their share in the “wave
of blind distrust of the foreigner” which has recently swept over the
land. Surely, no one is justified in judging the foreign-born, or is
worthy or fitted to aid in educating them in regard to the duties of
citizenship, unless he has first acquainted himself with their hopes,
their disappointments, their aspirations, the travail and pathos
of their new birth, and their deep-rooted love for America, as set
forth in their own writings; for these are probably the strongest
Americanization documents we possess and one of the surest proofs of
the soundness of our institutions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For generous permission to use copyrighted selections grateful
acknowledgment is given to the following publishers and individuals: To
Messrs. Harper & Brothers for the selections by M. E. Ravage; to The
Pilgrim Press for the selection by George A. Gordon; to Messrs. Charles
Scribner’s Sons for the selection by Edwin L. Godkin; to The Four Seas
Company for the selections by Robert M. Wernaer; to Fleming H. Revell
Company for the selections by Edward A. Steiner; to J. B. Lippincott
Company for the use of part of the address, “True Americanism,” by
Carl Schurz; to The Christopher Publishing House for the selections by
Enrico C. Sartorio; to Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. for the selection by
Felix Adler; to Messrs. P. J. Kenedy & Sons, to the trustees of the
estate of Mary J. A. O’Reilly, and to the daughters of the poet, Mrs.
William E. Hocking, Miss Mary Boyle O’Reilly and Miss Elizabeth Boyle
O’Reilly for the use of poems or parts of poems from the work of John
Boyle O’Reilly; to The Century Company and to Miss Anzia Yezierska for
the selection, “How I Found America,” from the _Century Magazine_; to
The Century Company also for the selection by Oscar Straus; to Mr.
Seraphim G. Canoutas for the selection from his “Hellenism in America”;
to The State Historical Society of Iowa and to Mr. Jacob Van der Zee
for the selection from “The Hollanders of Iowa”; to Messrs. Doubleday,
Page & Co. and to Mr. Stefano Miele for the selection from an article
by Mr. Miele in the _World’s Work_; to The Macmillan Company for the
selections by Angelo Patri and E. G. Stern; to The Macmillan Company
and The Outlook Company for the selections by Jacob Riis; and to Mr.
Otto H. Kahn and to Mr. John Kulamer for the selections appearing under
their names.
The selections by Mary Antin and Abraham M. Rihbany, and the one from
Carl Schurz’s “Abraham Lincoln” are used by permission of, and by
special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company, the authorized
publishers of their works.
Thanks are here also cordially given to those persons, including
several authors not mentioned above, who, by their courtesies and
encouragement, and in a number of instances by specific suggestions,
have assisted in the work of compilation and editing.
CONTENTS[1]
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 9
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 15
PHILIP SCHAFF 20
Cosmopolitan Character of “American
Nationality” 21
FRANCES D’ARUSMONT 29
The Constitution and Establishment of
the Federal Government 30
FRANCIS LIEBER 33
A German Immigrant Points Out the
Dangers of Segregation 34
Political Liberty in America 36
CARL SCHURZ 38
An Immigrant’s Tribute to Lincoln 39
“True Americanism” 40
EDWIN LAWRENCE GODKIN 44
An Immigrant’s Faith in Democracy 45
JOHN BOYLE O’REILLY 52
“The Exile of the Gael” 52
“The Pilgrim Fathers” 54
“Liberty Lighting the World” 55
“America” 57
HANS MATTSON 58
Scandinavian Contribution to American
Nationality 59
JACOB RIIS 61
“A Young Man’s Hero”: An Immigrant’s
Tribute to Roosevelt 63
JACOB VAN DER ZEE 66
“Why Dutch Emigrants Turned to America” 67
EDWARD BOK 71
OSCAR SOLOMON STRAUS 72
“America and the Spirit of
American Judaism” 73
FELIX ADLER 77
The American Ideal 78
MARY ANTIN 82
An Immigrant’s Tribute to the Public
School and to George Washington 83
“The Law of the Fathers”: A View of
the Declaration of Independence 89
ABRAHAM MITRIE RIHBANY 91
America Offers Something Better
than Money 92
An Immigrant Tells his Struggles with
the English Language 94
EDWARD ALFRED STEINER 96
“The Criminal Immigrant” 97
Industrialism and the Immigrant 105
GEORGE A. GORDON 111
“The Foreign-born American Citizen”:
Cost, Privilege and Duties of his
Citizenship 112
SERAPHIM G. CANOUTAS 121
Americanization: Its Principles
and Meaning 123
STEFANO MIELE 125
Some Obstacles to Americanization 126
JOHN KULAMER 130
“The American Spirit and
Americanization” 131
ENRICO C. SARTORIO 136
Patronizing the Foreigner 137
Training for Citizenship 140
OTTO HERMANN KAHN 143
“Capital and Labor--A Fair Deal” 144
MARCUS ELI RAVAGE 150
The New Immigration 151
What College Life in the West Did for
an Immigrant 152
ELIZABETH G. STERN 160
The Pathos of Readjustment 161
ROBERT M. WERNAER 166
“The Soul of America” 167
“We Must Be True” 172
ANGELO PATRI 173
An Immigrant and His Father 174
An Immigrant and the Children 177
ANZIA YEZIERSKA 181
“How I Found America” 182
* * * * *
LIST OF AUTHORS WITH THEIR WRITINGS FROM WHICH SELECTIONS HAVE BEEN
TAKEN FOR INCLUSION IN THIS VOLUME
PAGE
Adler, Felix 77
_The World Crisis and Its Meaning_
Antin, Mary 82
_The Promised Land_
_They Who Knock at Our Gates_
Bok, Edward 71
Canoutas, Seraphim G. 121
_Hellenism in America_
D’Arusmont, Frances (1795-1852) 29
_Views of Society and Manners
in America_
Godkin, Edwin L. (1831-1902) 44
_Problems of Modern Democracy_
Gordon, George A. 111
_The Appeal of the Nation_
Kahn, Otto H. 143
_Capital and Labor--A Fair Deal._
Pam. pub. by the author
Kulamer, John 130
_The American Spirit
and Americanization_
Lieber, Francis (1800-1872) 33
_The Stranger in America_
Mattson, Hans (1832-1893) 58
_Reminiscences_
Miele, Stefano 125
_America As a Place to Make Money._
(In “World’s Work,” December, 1920)
O’Reilly, John Boyle (1844-1890) 52
_Selected Poems._ Kenedy
Patri, Angelo 173
_A Schoolmaster of the Great City_
Ravage, Marcus E. 150
_An American in the Making_
Rihbany, Abraham M. 91
_A Far Journey_
Riis, Jacob (1849-1914) 61
_The Making of an American_
_Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen_
Sartorio, Enrico C. 136
_Social and Religious Life of
Italians in America_
Schaff, Philip (1819-1893) 20
_American Nationality._ Pam.
Schurz, Carl (1829-1906) 38
_Abraham Lincoln: An Essay._ Houghton
_Speeches._ 1865. Lippincott
Steiner, Edward A. 96
_From Alien to Citizen_
_Nationalizing America_
Stern, Elizabeth G. 160
_My Mother and I_
Straus, Oscar S. 72
_The American Spirit_
Van der Zee, Jacob 66
_The Hollanders of Iowa_
Wernaer, Robert M. 166
_The Soul of America_
Yezierska, Anzia 181
_How I Found America._ (In “Century
Magazine,” November, 1920)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Several titles have been supplied by the editor; those given in the
words of the author are enclosed in quotation marks.
* * * * *
The American Spirit in the Writings of Americans of Foreign Birth
PHILIP SCHAFF
It is as a theologian and as editor of the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia
and other religious works that Philip Schaff is chiefly known; but
there is a slighter work of his which hardly deserves the neglect
into which it has fallen,--that is, his address on “American
Nationality,” delivered before the Irving Society of the College
of St. James, Maryland, June 11th, 1856. He was born at Coire,
Switzerland, and was educated at the Stuttgart Gymnasium and at the
universities of Tübingen, Halle and Berlin. After traveling for a
while as a private tutor he was called to a professorship in the
theological seminary of the German Reformed Church at Mercersburg,
Pennsylvania, and came to the United States in 1844. In 1870 he
accepted the professorship of sacred literature in Union Theological
Seminary, New York City. He revisited Europe several times, on one
occasion going to Russia in behalf of oppressed people there. It is
not unnatural that one who was born in a land that has sheltered so
many nationalities, and where a strong spirit of liberty has always
existed, should have so keen and farsighted an appreciation of the
meaning and influence of the cosmopolitan character of the American
nation.
Cosmopolitan Character of American Nationality
By nationality we understand the peculiar genius of a people which
animates its institutions, prompts its actions and begets a feeling of
common interest and sympathy. It is not the result of any compact, but
an instinct of human nature in its social capacity, an expansion of
the inborn love of self and kindred. To hate his own countrymen is as
unnatural as to hate his own brothers and sisters.
Nationality grows with the nation itself and acts as a powerful
stimulus in its development. But on the other side it presupposes an
organized state of society and is the result of a historical process.
Barbarians have no nationality, because they are no nations, but
simply material for nations. It is not only the community of origin
and language, but also the community of rights and duties, of laws
and institutions, of deeds and sufferings, of freedom and oppression,
of literature and art, of virtue and religion, that enters into the
definition of a nation and gives vigor to the sense of nationality.
Historical reminiscences of glory and woe, whether preserved in
monuments, or written records, or oral traditions, popular songs and
national airs, such as “God save the Queen,” “Ye mariners of England,”
“Rule, Britannia,” “Scots wha hae with Wallace bled,” “Allons enfants
de la patrie,” “Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland,” “The Star Spangled
Banner,” “Hail, Columbia,” contribute powerfully to strengthen the
national tie and to kindle the fire of national enthusiasm.
Nationality begets patriotism, one of the noblest of natural virtues
that has filled the pages of history with so many heroic deeds and
sacrifices. Who can read without admiration the immortal story of
Gideon, Leonidas, Cincinnatus, Horatius Cocles, William Tell, Arnold
von Winkelried, the Maid of Orleans, John Hampden, Prince William of
Orange, Andreas Hofer, George Washington, who lived or died for their
country?
True patriotism does not imply hatred or contempt of foreigners, and
is entirely compatible with a proper regard for the rights and welfare
of other nations, just as self-love and self-respect may and should
coexist with the most generous philanthropy. A narrow-minded and
narrow-hearted nationalism which walls out the life of the world, and
for this very reason condemns itself to perpetual imprisonment in the
treadmill of its own pedantry and conceit, may suit semi-barbarians,
or the stagnant heathen civilization of China and Japan[2], but not
an enlightened Christian people. True and false nationalism and
patriotism are related to each other, as self-love to selfishness.
The first is a law of nature, the second a vice. We respect a man
in the same proportion in which his self-love expands into love of
kindred and country, and his patriotism into love of humanity at
large. Washington was always generous to the enemy and was the first
to establish amicable relations with England after the conclusion of
the American war. The Christian religion, which commands us to love God
supremely and our neighbor as ourselves, tends to purify and elevate
patriotism, like every other natural virtue, by emancipating it from
the selfish, overbearing, all-grasping passion of conquest, and making
it contributory to the general welfare of the human family. One of the
noblest acts of the English nation, as a nation, is the disinterested
abolition of the African slave trade.
The events of modern times tend more and more to break down the
barriers between the nations, to bring the ends of the earth together
and to realize the unity and universality of the human race.
This we must steadily keep in view, if we would understand the
distinctive character and mission of the _American_ nation, i. e., the
people of the United States, who are emphatically called by that name,
as the chief bearers of the historical life and future significance of
the entire Western Continent.
In discussing this interesting topic, we shall avoid, of course, the
whirlpool of party politics, and endeavor to rise above those violent
sectional strifes, which, for some time past, have been and are still
agitating our country on the question of the true nature of Americanism.
Of all the great nations of the earth none has entered into existence
under more favorable auspices and prospects, none is better prepared
and more clearly called to represent a compact, well defined and yet
expansive, world-embracing nationality, than the American. Our motto,
_E Pluribus Unum_, is an unconscious prophecy of our national character
and destiny, as pointed out by the irresistible course of events and
the indications of Providence. Out of many nations, yea, out of all the
nations of Christendom, is to be gathered the one cosmopolitan nation
of America on the strong and immovable foundation of the Anglo-Saxon
race....
Let us now proceed to an analysis of the different elements, which
enter into the composition of the American nationality and will, in
their combined action, enable it to fulfil its great destiny.
It is evident to the most superficial observer that the basis of our
national character is English. It is so, not only in language, but also
in manners and customs, in our laws and institutions, in the structure
of our domestic, political and ecclesiastical life, in our literature
and religion. It is perfectly idle to think that this country will
ever become German, or French, or Irish, or Dutch. Let them emigrate
by hundreds of thousands from the continent of Europe, they will
modify and enrich, but they can never destroy or materially change the
Anglo-Saxon ground-element of the American people....
But with all due regard for good old England, America is by no means
intended to be a mere copy or continuation of it. If our nationality,
owing to its youth and the many foreign elements still entering into
its composition, is less solid and compact than that of our older
brother, it is, on the other hand, more capable of expansion and
development; it is composed of a greater variety of material and
destined ultimately for more comprehensive ends by the Almighty Ruler
of nations, who assigned us not an island, but a continent for a home,
and two oceans for a field of action.
If ever a nation was laid out on a truly cosmopolitan basis and gifted
with an irresistible power of attraction, it is the American. Here
where our globe ends its circuit seems to terminate the migration
of the human race. To our shores they come in an unbroken stream
from every direction. Even the tribes of Africa and Asia are largely
represented amongst us and call our country their home. But whatever
may be the ultimate fate of the red man, the negro and the Chinese,
who are separated from us by the unsurmountable difference of race, it
is evident that all the civilized nations of Europe, especially those
of Germanic origin, have contributed and will continue to contribute
to our stock. They meet here on the common ground of freedom and
equality, to renew their youth and to commingle at last into one grand
brotherhood, speaking one language, pervaded by one spirit, obeying the
same laws, laboring for one aim, and filling in these ends of the earth
the last and the richest chapter in the history of the world. As Europe
is a great advance on the civilization of Asia, so we have reason to
believe that America will be in the end a higher continuation of the
consolidated life of Europe. The eyes of the East are instinctively
turned to the West, and civilization follows the march of the sun.
The history of the colonization and growth of this country strongly
supports the view here taken. The descendants of England were indeed
the chief, but by no means the only agents in the Colonial period.
The Dutch on the banks of the Hudson, the Swedes on the Delaware, the
Germans in Pennsylvania and the neighboring States, the Huguenots in
South Carolina, New York and Boston, were amongst our earliest and most
useful settlers. In a more recent period Scotland, Ireland and all
parts of Germany have made the largest contributions to our population.
Florida, California and New Mexico are of Spanish origin. The French
claimed once by right of exploration and partial occupation the immense
central valley from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico,
and between the Alleghenies and the Rocky Mountains; and although
these possessions have long since been ceded to England and the United
States, the French element can never be entirely effaced on the banks
of the lower Mississippi or in Canada East.
In the Revolutionary War the descendants of the Continental Europeans,
especially the Germans of Pennsylvania and Virginia, in proportion
to their number, fought with as much zeal and success and shed
their blood as freely for the independence of the country as the
Anglo-Americans. Some of them, as the Muhlenbergs and the Hiesters,
acquired considerable distinction as officers of the army or members of
the first Congress.
But a number of our most eminent Revolutionary heroes were not even
native Americans, but came from different nations to offer us the aid
of their means, their enthusiasm, their military skill and experience
in the hour of trial. The Irish Montgomery died for us at the gates
of Quebec. General Mercer, who fell in the battle of Princeton, was
a native of Scotland. Kosciusko, the Pole, paid his early vows to
liberty in our cause, and his countryman, Pulaski, perished for it at
Savannah. The noble Germans, Baron de Kalb, who shared with Gaines the
glory of capturing Burgoyne and fell in the battle of Camden in South
Carolina, bleeding of seven wounds, and Steuben, the pupil of Frederic
the Great, and the Seven Years War, who left a handsome pension to
serve his adopted country and helped to decide the day at Yorktown,
crowned in the new world the high military reputation which they had
previously acquired in the old; they were amongst the most experienced
officers in the American army, and did it essential service, especially
by training, with immense labor, the raw recruits, and preparing them
for the victories of the battle-field. Our Congress knew well how
to appreciate their merits, by erecting to the former a monument at
Annapolis, and by voting to the latter a handsome annual pension, to
which the legislatures of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York added
large donations of land. France threw the weight of her powerful moral
influence and material aid into our scale, and sent us the Count de
Rochambeau, Baron de Viomenil, and especially the Marquis of Lafayette,
the citizen of two worlds, whose name will be handed down to the latest
American, as well as French posterity, in inseparable connection
with Washington. The West Indies gave us Alexander Hamilton, who
fought gallantly in the war, and, after its conclusion, organized our
financial credit and took the most distinguished part in the formation
and defence of our Federal Constitution, thus joining to the laurels of
the battle-field the more enduring honors of peace, like his friend,
the Father of his Country, whom we justly revere and love as “first in
war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
Thus all the leading nations of Christendom were actively and honorably
represented in the first settlement of our country, and in that great
struggle which resulted in the birth of a new nation, and thus earned a
title to a share in the blessings of its freedom....
As long, then, as we have such an immense body of land waiting for
living men, and such a gigantic task of the future before us, there is
no cause to discourage immigration. Let this continent of land continue
to attract another continent crowded with men, that they may thus both
prove a blessing to each other. How could we cherish a proscriptive
spirit without striking at the fundamental creed and glory of our
institutions? How could we indulge in hatred of foreigners and shut the
gate to the stranger, without insulting the memory of our own fathers
and of the fathers of this country? Let us never forget the sacred
trust of civil and religious liberty committed to us; never forget our
past history and our comprehensive destiny. Ourselves the children of
the pilgrims of a former generation, let us welcome the pilgrims of
the present day, and open a hospitable asylum to the oppressed and
persecuted of every Christian nation. Favored by the free gift of
Providence with a territory almost as large as Europe, and capable
of sustaining ten times the amount of our present population, let
us cordially invite and encourage the immigrants, till prairies and
forests, and mountains and valleys resound with the songs of living men
and the praises of God.
Here are our millions of acres stretching towards the setting sun
and teeming with hidden wealth, that must be made available for the
benefit of society. Here is room enough for all the science, learning,
art, wisdom, virtue and religion of Europe, that, transplanted into a
virgin soil and breathing the atmosphere of freedom, they may bring
forth new blossoms and fruit and open a new epoch in the onward march
of civilization. Here is the general congress of the noblest nations
of Christendom, the sterling, energetic Briton; the strong-willed,
enterprising Scotch; the hard-working, generous Irish; the industrious,
deep-thinking German; the honest, liberty-loving Swiss; the hardy,
thrifty Scandinavian; the even-tempered, tenacious Dutch; the easy,
elegant Frenchman; the earnest, dignified Spaniard; the ingenious,
imaginative Italian; the patriotic, high-minded Magyar and Pole,--that
they might renew their youth, and, laying aside their prejudices and
defects and uniting their virtues, may commingle into the one American
nation, the freest, the most enlightened, the most comprehensive of
all, the nation of the new world, the nation of the future....
The destiny and mission of such a cosmopolitan nation can hardly be
estimated. It must be majestic as our rivers, magnificent as the
Niagara Falls, lofty as the Rocky Mountains, vast as our territory,
deep as the two oceans around it, far-reaching as the highways of
commerce that already carries our name and influence to the remotest
regions of the globe. History points to a boundless future before it,
and nothing can prevent it from filling the most important pages in
the annals of coming centuries [except] its own unfaithfulness to its
providential trust....
Such high views on the destiny of our nation, so far from nourishing
the spirit of vanity and self-glorification, ought rather to humble
and fill us with a deep sense of our responsibility to the God of
nations, who entrusted us with a great mission for the world and the
Church, not from any superior excellency of our own, but from free
choice and an inscrutable decree of infinite wisdom. Nor should we
forget that there are fearful tendencies and dangers growing up in our
national life, which threaten to unfit us for our work and to expose
us to the judgment of the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, who is not
bound to any particular human instrumentality, but can raise a new
generation on the ruins of our own to carry out His designs. It is only
in steady view of these dangers, and by an earnest struggle against
evil temptations, that we can at all succeed and accomplish the great
ends for which Providence has called us into existence.
FOOTNOTE:
[2] The reader will, of course, note that this statement was made prior
to the modern awakening in these Oriental countries.
FRANCES D’ARUSMONT
Frances D’Arusmont, better known as Frances Wright, was born in
Dundee, Scotland. She seems to have inherited the intellectuality and
liberal feeling of her father, who was a man of independent means and
considerable accomplishments. Scarcely three years after her birth in
1795, she lost both her parents and was brought up by a maternal aunt
in England. She was largely self-educated, and from early youth was
keenly interested in history, particularly the history and condition
of the United States. This interest found definite expression in her
determination to sail for America in 1818, where she spent two years
in the States, publishing in 1821 her “Views of Society and Manners
in America,” a series of letters to a friend in England. While it
is true that these letters are filled with prepossessions, they had
a wholesome effect in counterbalancing a great deal of ignorance
about and prejudice against the United States at that time. After
going back to Europe for a short stay, she returned to the United
States in 1824, eager to solve the slave question. In pursuance of
this desire she bought a tract of land in Tennessee, about fourteen
miles northwest of Memphis, and settled negro slaves on it, in the
hope that they would work out their own liberty and that the Southern
planters would be induced to follow her example. The experiment
proved a failure, and, with health broken, she was ordered to Europe
by her physician. On returning to America again, she became a member
of Robert Owen’s colony at New Harmony in Indiana, and with the
assistance of Robert Dale Owen conducted a socialistic journal. At
this time she frequently appeared on the lecture platform in many
parts of the country. During one of her numerous trips to Europe
she was married in France to M. Phiquepal-D’Arusmont. She died at
Cincinnati in 1852.
Though no fanatic, Frances D’Arusmont had several qualities of the
visionary, courage and enthusiasm without prudence and judgment. It
is greatly to her credit and honor, however, that she was among the
first to realize the importance of the slavery question and to make
an effort to settle it amicably. It is to be regretted that she did
not devote her life solely to the solution of this momentous problem.
The selection here given from her “Views of Society and Manners in
America,” follows the text of the first New York edition, 1821.
THE CONSTITUTION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
What is most worthy of admiration in the history of America is not
merely the spirit of liberty which has ever animated her people, but
their perfect acquaintance with the science of government, which has
ever saved that spirit from preying on itself. The sages who laid the
foundation of her greatness possessed at once the pride of freemen
and _the knowledge of English freemen_; in building the edifice, they
knew how to lay the foundation; in preserving untouched the rights
of each individual, they knew how to prevent his attacking those
of his neighbor: they brought with them the experience of the best
governed nation then existing; and, having felt in their own persons
the errors inherent in that constitution, which had enlightened, but
only partly protected them, they knew what to shun as well as what to
imitate in the new models which they here cast, leisurely and sagely,
in a new and remote world. Thus possessed from the beginning of free
institutions, or else continually occupied in procuring or defending
them, the Colonies were well prepared to assume the character of
independent States. There was less of an experiment in this than their
enemies supposed.[3] Nothing, indeed, can explain the obstinacy of the
English ministry at the commencement of the Revolutionary struggle but
the supposition that they were wholly ignorant of the history of the
people to whom they were opposed. May I be forgiven the observation,
that the inquiries of ... have led me into the belief that some candid
and well-informed English gentlemen of the present day have almost as
little acquaintance with it as had Lord North.
Respecting the Revolution itself, the interest of its military history
is such as to fix the attention of the most thoughtless readers; but in
this, foreigners sometimes appear to imagine, was expended the whole
virtue of America. That a country which could put forth so much energy,
magnanimity, and wisdom, as appeared in that struggle, should suddenly
lose a claim to all these qualities, would be no less surprising than
humiliating. If we glance at the civil history of these republics
since the era of their independence, do we find no traces of the same
character? Were we to consider only the national institutions, the mild
and impartial laws, the full establishment of the rights of conscience,
the multiplication of schools and colleges to an extent unknown in any
other country of the world, all the improvements in every branch of
internal policy which have placed this people in their present state of
peace and unrivalled prosperity, we must allow them to be not only wise
to their interests, but alive to the pleas of humanity; but there are
not wanting instances of a yet more liberal policy.
How seldom is it that history affords us the example of a voluntary
sacrifice on the part of separate communities to further the common
good! It appears to me that the short history of America furnishes us
with more examples of this kind than that of any other nation, ancient
or modern. Throughout the war of the Revolution, and for some years
preceding it, the public feeling may be said to have been unusually
excited. At such times, men, and societies of men, are equal to actions
beyond the strength of their virtue at cooler moments. Passing on,
therefore, to the peace of 1783, we find a number of independent
republics gradually reconciling their separate and clashing interests,
each yielding something to promote the advantage of all, and sinking
the pride of individual sovereignty in that of the united whole. The
remarks made by Ramsay on the adoption of the federal constitution are
so apposite that I cannot resist quoting them:
“The adoption of this constitution was a triumph of virtue and good
sense over the vices and follies of human nature; in some respects, the
merit of it is greater than that of the Declaration of Independence.
The worst of men can be urged to make a spirited resistance to invasion
of their rights; but higher grades of virtue are requisite to induce
freemen, in the possession of a limited sovereignty, voluntarily to
surrender a portion of their natural liberties; to impose on themselves
those restraints of good government which bridle the ferocity of man,
compel him to respect the claims of others, and to submit his rights
and his wrongs to be decided upon by the voices of his fellow citizens.
The instances of nations which have vindicated their liberty by the
sword are many; of those which have made a good use of their liberty
when acquired are comparatively few.”
Nor did the liberality of these republics evince itself only in the
adoption of the general government. We find some making voluntary
concessions of vast territories, that they might be devoted to national
purposes; others releasing part of their own people from existing
engagements, and leaving them to consult their wishes and convenience
by forming themselves into new communities.
Should we contrast this policy with that employed by other nations,
we might hastily pronounce this people to be singularly free from
the ordinary passions of humanity. But, no; they are only singularly
enlightened in the art of government; they have learned that there is
no strength without union, no union without good fellowship, and no
good fellowship without fair dealing; and, having learned this, they
are only singularly fortunate in being able to reduce their knowledge
to practice.
FOOTNOTE:
[3] Mr. Burke, who seems to have possessed a more thorough acquaintance
with the institutions and character of the Colonists than any other
British statesman, insisted much on “the form of their provincial
legislative assemblies,” when tracing the consequences likely to result
from the oppressive acts of parliament. “Their governments,” observed
this orator, “are popular in a high degree; some are merely popular; in
all, the popular representative is the most weighty; and this share of
the people, in their ordinary government, never fails to inspire them
with lofty sentiments, and with a strong aversion from whatever tends
to deprive them of their chief importance.” (Author’s note.)
FRANCIS LIEBER
In these latter days when the world has been inclined to wonder
whether any good could come out of Prussia, it is interesting to
recall that Francis Lieber, who came to the United States in 1827 in
the vanguard of the German political refugees of the early nineteenth
century, was born in Berlin, March 18, 1800. His life was one of
intense activity, both physical and mental. He fought in the Prussian
army at Ligny and at Waterloo, and was severely wounded in the attack
on Namur. After the Napoleonic wars he studied in Berlin; and in
1819, because of his political ideas, he was imprisoned on the charge
of plotting against the government. He was discharged without trial;
but, being forbidden to stay at the Prussian universities, he took
his degree at Jena in 1820. After taking part in the Greek Revolution
of 1821 he went to Rome, where he became a tutor in the family of the
famous historian, Niebuhr. On returning to Berlin he was rearrested
and imprisoned, but released through the efforts of Niebuhr. Tired of
this relentless persecution, he left his native land forever in 1825.
Before embarking for the New World he was a teacher in London for a
short time.
Lieber’s first literary undertaking after reaching the United States
was the editing of the Encyclopædia Americana in Boston, 1827-32.
For the next twenty years he was professor of political economy
in South Carolina College, where his most important works were
produced,--“A Manual of Political Ethics,” 1838; “Legal and Political
Hermeneutics,” 1839; “Civil Liberty and Self-government,” 1852. In
1856 he was called to a similar professorship in Columbia College,
New York. He was member of the French Institute and other learned
societies in Europe and America.
The spirit of the man and his work is manifested in his favorite
motto, _Nullum jus sine officio, nullum officium sine jure_ (“No
right without its duties, no duty without its rights”). It is
not necessary to mention his numerous writings except the one of
immediate interest here,--“The Stranger in America,” published in
1834, a series of letters written to a friend in Germany. In the
selection that follows, the reader will be struck by the wisdom and
foresight in pointing out the danger of segregation and the futility
of German immigrants attempting to erect a German state within the
United States.
A GERMAN IMMIGRANT POINTS OUT THE DANGERS OF SEGREGATION