CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS
I. THE HARMONIZING CONTRAST OF MEN
American freedom and democratic humanity require American minds to be
composed of free-made ideas, organized efficiently for the righteous
promotion of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," if we are
ever to be safe in the faith that "government of the people, by the
people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth."
The American order, however defective, even as it is composed of
defective minds, is the only safety for a free humanity. The Western
hemisphere is under the control of that democratic order, and America
is large enough and powerful enough to stand alone, in clear vision
and unadulterated theory, for the rights of man. America alone is
clear-minded enough for the unprejudiced and unbiased championship of
a free-minded world.
Washington and Lincoln reached the heights from which they saw
together one vision of the Promised Land, "ordained from the
foundations of the world" for the chosen order of human evolution.
They wanted no "entangling alliances" with a foreign order, or a
fragmentary system of human freedom. Americans have so far kept the
peace with the uncompromised moral law of the "free and equal" rights
of man. America is dedicated to the proposition that a compromised
order of freedom and equality, either through treaty or war, shall
never invade the Western Hemisphere.
American youth, and every newcomer entitled to home or refuge on
American soil, must know the truth that makes men free. That truth is
marvellously embodied in the lives of Washington and Lincoln. Their
careers and patriotism have been contrasted and unified by many
learned students of their meaning for America. The characterization of
their lives, as significant for Americans, and needing much to be well
understood, has been nobly done by Charles Sumner. The more important
part of that impressive valuation is as follows:
"The work left undone by Washington was continued by Lincoln.
Kindred in service, kindred in patriotism, each was naturally
surrounded at death by kindred homage. One sleeps in the East,
the other sleeps in the West; and thus, in death, as in life,
one is the complement of the other.
"Each was at the head of the republic during a period of
surpassing trial; and each thought only of the public good,
simply, purely, constantly, so that single-hearted devotion to
country will always find a synonym in their names. Each was the
national chief during a time of successful war. Each was the
representative of his country at a great epoch of history.
"Unlike in origin, conversation, and character, they were
unlike, also, in the ideas which they served, except so far as
each was the servant of his country. The war conducted by
Washington was unlike the war conducted by Lincoln,--as the
peace which crowned the arms of the one was unlike the peace
which began to smile upon the other. The two wars did not
differ in the scale of operations, and in the tramp of mustered
hosts, more than in the ideas involved. The first was for
national independence; the second was to make the republic one
and indivisible, on the indestructible foundations of liberty
and equality. In the relation of cause and effect, the first
was the natural precursor and herald of the second. By the
sword of Washington independence was secured; but the unity of
the republic and the principles of the Declaration were left
exposed to question. From that day to this, through various
chances, they have been questioned, and openly assailed,--until
at last the republic was constrained to take up arms in their
defence.
"Such are these two great wars in which these two chiefs bore
such part. Washington fought for national independence and
triumphed, making his country an example to mankind. Lincoln
drew a reluctant sword to save those great ideas, essential to
the life and character of the republic. * * *
"Rejoice as you point to this child of the people, who was
lifted so high that republican institutions became manifest in
him! * * * Above all, see to it that his constant vows are
fulfilled, and that the promises of the fathers are maintained,
so that no person in the upright form of man can be shut out
from their protection. Then will the unity of the republic be
fixed on a foundation that cannot fail, and other nations will
enjoy its security. The cornerstone of national independence is
already in its place, and on it is inscribed the name of George
Washington. There is another stone which must have its place at
the corner also. This is the Declaration of Independence, with
all its promises fulfilled. On this stone we will gratefully
inscribe the name of Abraham Lincoln."
[Illustration: Emancipation Statue of Lincoln--Washington, D. C.]
Carlyle says that "sincerity, a deep, great, genuine sincerity, is the
first characteristic of all men in any way heroic. All great men have
this as the primary material in them." This is why the so-called "art
for art's sake" never can be great. It is sincerity for merely formal
success, and not for the spirit of "life more abundantly." Formal
efficiency is achieved only in the complicated training of an extended
education, but social efficiency of immeasurably greater value is the
simplicity of knowledge. It is the source and explanation of all
interests, and in that learning, Lincoln had no superior. He never
achieved any good that he did not at once want to share it with
others. As a boy he never learned anything good that he did not want
to express it to others. In this process of receiving and giving is
the fundamental means of building character and mind. In teaching
others, he taught himself, and thus in losing his life he found it. In
being able to tell his observations and interpretations to his
comrades, he was training to be the schoolmaster of the world.
Lincoln's earnest sincerity relating to himself, his associates, his
community, his country, and for all mankind, may be illustrated in a
few quotations:
"The man who will not investigate both sides of a question is
dishonest."
"After all, the one meaning of life is simply to be kind."
"I have not done much, but this I have done--wherever I have found a
thistle growing, I have tried to pluck it up, and in its place to
plant a flower."
"I have been too familiar with disappointment, to be very much
chagrined by defeat."
"Without the assistance of that Divine Being I cannot succeed, and
with that assistance I cannot fail."
"If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and
finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time, or die
by suicide."
"A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and
limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of
popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free
people."
"Twenty-five years ago I was a hired laborer. The hired laborer of
yesterday may labor on his own account today, and hire others to labor
for him to-morrow. Advancement and improvement in conditions is the
order of things in a society of equals,--in a democracy."
In a speech at Columbus, Ohio, September 16, 1859, he said, "I believe
there is a genuine popular sovereignty. I think a definition of
genuine popular sovereignty, in the abstract, would be about this:
That each man shall do precisely as he pleases with himself, and with
all those things which exclusively concern him. Applied to government
this principle would be, that a general government shall do all those
things which pertain to it, and all the local governments shall do
precisely as they please in respect to those matters which exclusively
concern them. I understand that this government of the United States,
under which we live, is based upon that principle; and I am
misunderstood if it is supposed that I have any war to make upon that
principle."
But, there is a patriotic masterpiece of Lincoln's thought, which,
with the reinforcement of occasion and place, such as the field of
Gettysburg was, contains all the unmeasurable and priceless meaning of
Lincoln for American patriotism and the manhood of America. It is his
address of dedication on the battlefield of Gettysburg. In effect on
the human mind, it probably can never be surpassed as a message of
political freedom for the rights of man.
II. A MASTERPIECE OF MEANING FOR AMERICA
The battle of Gettysburg is regarded by historians as one of the
decisive battles of the world. It was fought July 2, 3 and 4, 1863. On
the first anniversary, a great national meeting was held there to
dedicate the ground as a government burial place for the soldiers who
had died there.
Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, on the eve of the dedication, in the
course of an address, said, "I thank my God for the hope that this is
the last fratricidal war which will fall upon this country, vouchsafed
us from heaven, as the richest, the broadest, the most beautiful and
capable of a great destiny, that has ever been given to any part of
the human race."
At the opening of the ceremonies, before a vast concourse of people,
from all the Northern states, convened on the open battlefield, Rev.
T. H. Stockton said in the course of his dedicatory prayer, "In behalf
of all humanity, whose ideal is divine, whose first memory is Thine
image lost, and whose last hope is Thine image restored, and
especially of our own nation, whose history has been so favored, whose
position is so peerless, whose mission is so sublime, and whose future
so attractive, we thank Thee for the unspeakable patience of Thy
compassion, and the exceeding greatness of Thy loving kindness.... By
this Altar of Sacrifice, on this Field of Deliverance, on this Mount
of Salvation, within the fiery and bloody line of these 'munitions of
rocks,' looking back to the dark days of fear and trembling, and to
the rapture of relief that came after, we multiply our thanksgivings
and confess our obligations.... Our enemies ... prepared to cast the
chain of Slavery around the form of Freedom, binding life and death
together forever.... But, behind these hills was heard the feeble
march of a smaller, but still pursuing host. Onward they hurried, day
and night, for God and their country. Footsore, wayworn, hungry,
thirsty, faint,--but not in heart,--they came to dare all, to bear
all, and to do all that is possible to heroes.... Baffled, bruised,
broken, their enemies recoiled, retired and disappeared.... But oh,
the slain!... From the Coasts beneath the Eastern Star, from the
shores of Northern lakes and rivers, from the flowers of Western
prairies, and from the homes of the Midway and Border, they came here
to die for us and for mankind.... As the trees are not dead, though
their foliage is gone, so our heroes are not dead, though their forms
have fallen.... The spirit of their example is here. And, so long as
time lasts, the pilgrims of our own land, and from all lands, will
thrill with its inspiration."
Edward Everett, as the orator of the day, said in the course of his
scholarly address, "As my eye ranges over the fields whose sod was so
recently moistened by the blood of gallant and loyal men, I feel, as
never before, how truly it was said of old, 'it is sweet and becoming
to die for one's country.' I feel, as never before, how justly from
the dawn of history to the present time, men have paid the homage of
their gratitude and admiration to the memory of those who nobly
sacrificed their lives, that their fellowmen may live in safety and
honor.... I do not believe there is in all history, the record of a
Civil War of such gigantic dimensions where so little has been done in
the spirit of vindictiveness as in this war.... There is no bitterness
in the hearts of the masses.... The bonds that unite us as one
People,--a substantial community of origin, language, belief and law;
common, national and political interests ... these bonds of union are
of perennial force and energy, while the causes of alienation are
imaginary, factitious and transient. The heart of the People, North
and South, is for the Union.... The weary masses of the people are
yearning to see the dear old flag floating over their capitols, and
they sigh for the return of peace, prosperity and happiness, which
they enjoyed under a government whose power was felt only in its
blessings.... You feel, though the occasion is mournful, that it is
good to be here! God bless the Union! It is dearer to us for the blood
of brave men which has been shed in its defense.... 'The whole earth,'
said Pericles, as he stood over the remains of his fellow citizens,
who had fallen in the first year of the Peloponnesian War, 'the whole
earth is the sepulchre of illustrious men.' All time, he might have
added, is the millennium of their glory."
The place and the occasion were supremely inspiring to patriotism, not
only for the triumph of moral principle in one's country, but for its
meaning to all humanity. The great battlefield spread out before the
eyes of the vast concourse gathered there from all the states, and the
spirit of the heroic scenes animated every mind.
Edward Everett, then regarded as the greatest orator in America, had
delivered the dedicatory oration through a long strain of attention,
during the weary and fatiguing hours. The President was then called on
to close the dedication with whatever he might feel desirable to say.
He did so in a few words, but these few words are cherished as among
the greatest contributions to the meaning of civilization. To one of
the decisive battles for freedom in the world, it gave a starry crown
from "the voice of the people" as "the voice of God."
* * * * *
The War Department appropriated five thousand dollars to cast this
speech in bronze and set it up on the battlefield of Gettysburg. It is
regarded as a masterpiece of dedication in the literature of the
world.
"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated 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 have 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 this 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 the same 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 should 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."
III. THE MISSION OF AMERICA
The understanding person who becomes conscious of a meaning for his
life, realizes a most important responsibility to work for the
betterment of his mind and the material conditions that are to become
as his future self. The moral person, who becomes conscious of a
meaning for human life, works for this betterment as his contribution
to the progress of posterity. This means that a moral individual
coincides with a social humanity. Anything not thus harmonizing
morally for the world as it is, in order to promote a world as it
ought to be, is an enemy of both self and society.
Lincoln admonishes us to remember that "The struggle of today is not
altogether for today,--it is for a vast future also." We learned
rapidly, when the true situation came into our view, that, as
Professor Phelps voiced it long ago, "To save America we must save the
world." American patriotism is clearly world-patriotism, and it has
become synonymous with humanity. This old truth was discovered by the
Revolutionary Fathers, and it is the mission of America to make it the
truth of the World.
The International Teachers' Congress representing eighteen nations,
which met at Liege in 1905, adopted five definite ideas of
International Peace, that should be promoted through all available
ways, in all the schools of civilized nations. Briefly stated, those
fundamental ideas were as follows:
1. The morality of individuals is the same for people and
nations.
2. The ideal of brotherly love has no limit.
3. All life must be duly respected.
4. Human rights are the same for one and all.
5. Love of country coincides with love of humanity.
Such principles and such a definition of patriotism were upheld by the
makers and preservers of America, at the greatest cost of treasure and
life, and they are the life-interest of every one worthy of the name
American. It moved Bishop J. P. Newman to say of Lincoln in his
anniversary oration of 1894, "Lincoln's mission was as large as his
country, vast as humanity, enduring as time. No greater thought can
ever enter the human mind than obedience to law and freedom for
all.... Time has vindicated the character of his statesmanship, that
to preserve the Union was to save this great nation for human
liberty."
American faith has at last come to the conditions when it can realize
itself in fulfilling the moral work of the world. That vision came
into full view during the Great European War.
President Wilson, in his address to Congress, April 2, 1917, said:
"We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that
the same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong shall be
observed among nations and their Governments that are observed among
the individual citizens of civilized states."
Congress acted upon this reaffirmation of the responsibility of
Americans and the mission of America. Concerning the monstrous
invasion of humanity and ruthless denial of international law, he
said:
"Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the
world is involved and the freedom of its peoples and the menace to
that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic Governments
backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will,
not by the will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality
in such circumstances."
The Way of Peace, as the morality of democracies, he clearly defined,
so that even the worst prejudice could not becloud the issue with
irrelevant or contradictory assertions.
"A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a
partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic Government could be
trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a
league of honor, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its
vitals away; the plotters of inner circles who could plan what they
would and render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its
very heart. Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor
steady to a common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any
narrow interest of their own."
Washington was charged with the heroic task of making the thirteen
colonies safe for "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness;"
Lincoln's patriotic mission was to unchain this Ideal for all America:
and Wilson's sublime conception was to make the world "safe for
democracy," that its peace might be planted on "the trusted
foundations of liberty."
A mind-union upon human meaning as an ideal is necessary for the
patriotism of America. The right to life means that the making of
right life has a right way. Those who deny the meaning of America
divest themselves of all claims in reason upon the rights of life
defined in American history. The American kingdom of right is
perfecting itself as rapidly as minds can be mobilized for its sublime
task. The war-message extending the definition of American freedom
says:
"We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion.
We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the
sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of
the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have
been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of the nations can
make them."
And, finally, the duty of every American, worthy of America, enters
the third epoch of American history, as did the patriot duty of
Washington and Lincoln in their time. The message concludes in these
measured terms:
"It is a fearful thing to lead this great, peaceful people into
war--into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization
itself seeming to be in the balance.
"But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the
things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for democracy,
for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in
their own Governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations,
for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as
shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself
at last free.
"To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything
that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who
know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her
blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and
happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she
can do no other."
The world in its social evolution has come on through its immemorial
struggle to the crisis in its history, where civilization, as liberty
in moral law, can progress further only as the forces of humanity are
organized "to make the world safe for democracy." The final truth is
that the world will be made safe for democracy when democracy is made
safe for the individual. All political creeds, religious interests and
moral ideals, must have this democracy in which to work, before they
can become free to develop their own truth.
Autocratic egotism, whether framed in national or personal will, among
many or few, must perish from the earth, with all its spoils and
masteries, before there can be any possible "government of the people,
for the people and by the people." As "a house divided against itself
cannot stand," so, a civilization cannot stand whose humanity is
divided into the three special interests known to us as individuals,
the nation and an alien world.
The human task of conscience and reason, made clear in the progress of
experience, finds the humanity of child, mother and man in all its
relations and interests, or it has not found God or the meaning of the
Universe.
Human peace and salvation are gained, not only through persuasion,
education and regeneration, but also that the composing conditions of
"peace on earth" shall be made materially safe for "life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness."
Physically, as well as spiritually, the faith that is "without works
is dead." The righteousness that allows its right to be defeated is
not righteous, and the conscience that permits the crimes of
inhumanity is no less unlawful before man and God. In such conditions,
the prophet cried out, "Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord
negligently, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood."
The American democracy of Washington and Lincoln, with their hosts of
devoted associates, means individual righteousness and responsibility
making safe the free-born mind for a moral world. What is an American
and why so is the patriotic and religious interest developed through
ages of sacrifice and suffering. Only those who are willing "to give
the last full measure of devotion" to that divine work are heirs to
the humanity of Washington and Lincoln, and who are thus entitled to
be named Americans, or are worthy to share the heritage of America.