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AMERICA FIRST
Patriotic Readings
by
JASPER L. McBRIEN, A. M.
Former State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Nebraska
and Now School Extension Specialist for the United
States Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C.
[Illustration: AMERICA FIRST]
[Illustration]
American Book Company
New York Cincinnati Chicago
Copyright, 1916
by Jasper L. McBrien
All rights reserved
AMERICA FIRST
W. P. 7
FOREWORD
America First was the central thought in President Wilson's address to
the Daughters of the American Revolution on the twenty-fifth anniversary
of their organization--their Silver Jubilee--in Washington, D. C.,
October 11, 1915. The president declared in this address that all
citizens should make it plain whether their sympathies for foreign
countries come before their love of the United States, or whether they
are for America first, last, and all the time. He asserted, also, that
our people need all of their patriotism in this confusion of tongues in
which we find ourselves over the European war.
The press throughout the country has taken up the thought of the
President and, seconded by the efforts of the Bureau of Education, has
done loyal work in making "America First" our national slogan. This is
all good so far as it goes--especially among the adult population, many
of whom must be educated, if educated at all, on the run. But the rising
generation, both native-born and foreign, to get the full meaning of
this slogan in its far-reaching significance, must have time for study
and reflection along patriotic lines. There must be the right material
on which the American youth may settle their thoughts for a definite end
in patriotism if our country is to have a new birth of freedom and if
"this government of the people, by the people, and for the people is not
to perish from the earth." The prime and vital service of amalgamating
into one homogeneous body the children alike of those who are born here
and of those who come here from so many different lands must be rendered
this Republic by the school teachers of America.
The purpose of this book is to furnish the teachers and pupils of our
country, material with which the idea of true Americanism may be
developed until "America First" shall become the slogan of every man,
woman, and child in the United States.
CONTENTS
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
_Jasper L. McBrien_
INTRODUCTION 13
TABLEAU--THE SPIRIT OF SEVENTY-SIX 19
CAST OF CHARACTERS 20
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS--A DRAMATIZATION 21
AMERICAN PATRIOTISM
WHAT IS PATRIOTISM _Jasper L. McBrien_ 71
AMERICA FOR ME _Henry van Dyke_ 73
AMERICA FIRST _Woodrow Wilson_ 75
THE MEANING OF THE FLAG _Woodrow Wilson_ 83
MAKERS OF THE FLAG _Franklin K. Lane_ 87
THE FLAG OF THE UNION FOREVER _Fitzhugh Lee_ 90
FAREWELL ADDRESS _George Washington_ 94
WASHINGTON _John W. Daniel_ 104
ABRAHAM LINCOLN _Henry Watterson_ 129
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS _Abraham Lincoln_ 151
ROBERT E. LEE _E. Benjamin Andrews_ 154
OUR REUNITED COUNTRY _Clark Howell_ 163
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY _Henry Cabot Lodge_ 171
A REMINISCENCE OF GETTYSBURG _John B. Gordon_ 175
THE NEW SOUTH _Henry W. Grady_ 181
THE DUTY AND VALUE OF PATRIOTISM _Archbishop Ireland_ 195
OUR COUNTRY _William McKinley_ 202
BEHOLD THE AMERICAN _T. DeWitt Talmage_ 206
THE HOLLANDER AS AN AMERICAN _Theodore Roosevelt_ 212
THE ADOPTED CITIZEN _Ulysses S. Grant_ 217
OUR NAVY _Hampton L. Carson_ 220
THE PATRIOTISM OF PEACE _William J. Bryan_ 232
A PLEA FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE _George W. Norris_ 238
GETTYSBURG ADDRESS _Abraham Lincoln_ 255
NEUTRALITY PROCLAMATION _Woodrow Wilson_ 256
POETRY OF PATRIOTISM
CONCORD HYMN _Ralph Waldo Emerson_ 261
WARREN'S ADDRESS _John Pierpont_ 262
PATRIOTISM _Sir Walter Scott_ 263
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER _Francis Scott Key_ 263
MY COUNTRY _Samuel F. Smith_ 265
THE AMERICAN FLAG _Joseph Rodman Drake_ 266
SONG OF MARION'S MEN _William Cullen Bryant_ 267
THE OLD CONTINENTALS _Guy Humphreys McMaster_ 269
THE SWORD OF BUNKER HILL _Wm. Ross Wallace_ 271
LIBERTY TREE _Thomas Paine_ 272
THE RISING IN 1776 _Thomas Buchanan Read_ 274
AMERICA _Bayard Taylor_ 278
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY _Francis M. Finch_ 279
ABRAHAM LINCOLN _James Russell Lowell_ 281
THE FLAG GOES BY _Henry Holcomb Bennett_ 284
THE SHIP OF STATE _Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_ 285
THE NAME OF OLD GLORY _James Whitcomb Riley_ 286
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Acknowledgments for permission to use copyrighted and other valuable
material in this volume are hereby tendered to authors and publishers as
follows:
To President Woodrow Wilson for his three addresses "America First,"
"The Meaning of the Flag," and "Neutrality Proclamation."
To Secretary Franklin K. Lane for his speech on "The Makers of the
Flag."
To William Jennings Bryan and his publishers, Funk and Wagnalls Company,
New York and London, for extracts from his address on "The Patriotism of
Peace."
To Archbishop Ireland for extracts from his address on "The Duty and
Value of Patriotism."
To George L. Schuman and Company, publishers of _Modern Eloquence_,
Chicago, for the following extracts and addresses: "Our Country," by
William McKinley; "Our Reunited Country," by Clark Howell; "The Blue and
the Gray," by Henry Cabot Lodge; "A Reminiscence of Gettysburg," by John
B. Gordon; "The New South," by Henry W. Grady; and "The Hollander as an
American," by Theodore Roosevelt.
To A. C. Butters for the address on "Washington," by John W. Daniel,
from _Modern Eloquence_ published by George L. Schuman and Company.
To Henry Watterson, Louisville, Kentucky, for the extracts from his
lecture on Abraham Lincoln.
To E. Benjamin Andrews and to his publishers, Fords, Howard and Hulbert,
for the extracts from his lecture on Robert E. Lee.
To J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, for the poem by Thomas
Buchanan Read, "The Rising in 1776."
To Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, for the poem by Henry van Dyke,
"America for Me," and also for the extract from the poem "Wanted," by J.
G. Holland.
To The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, for the poem by James
Whitcomb Riley, "The Name of Old Glory."
To Henry Holcomb Bennett for his poem entitled, "The Flag Goes By."
To Christopher Sower Company, Philadelphia, for the poem by Edward
Brooks, entitled "Be a Woman."
The selections from the poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and Bayard Taylor are used by
permission of and special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company, the
authorized publishers of the works of those authors.
The thanks of the author are also extended to Nelson Warner, Katherine
M. Cook, Mrs. L. R. Caldwell, Belvia Cuzzort, W. R. Hood, and Dr.
Stephen B. Weeks of the Bureau of Education, for valuable assistance in
the compilation of this work.
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
A DRAMATIZATION
[Illustration: SIGNING THE DECLARATION]
INTRODUCTION
This dramatization of the Continental Congress portrays the spirit of
the times during the period of the American Revolution. It deals
principally with the debates for and against the Declaration of
Independence; it is a summary of the grievances, struggles, sacrifices,
and victories of the colonies from the enactment of the obnoxious Stamp
Act by the British Parliament to the resignation of George Washington as
commander-in-chief of the American army.
In the construction of a drama covering such a heroic period and
relating to events so momentous, all of which must pass in review before
us within an hour and a half's time, it is necessary to exercise a
certain dramatic license. The historical literalist, like the scriptural
literalist, makes the letter kill the spirit of the truth. After all, it
is not the dry facts, dates, and mechanics of history that are of
greatest importance; it is the fundamental principles, causes, and
effects underlying the events as well as the spirit of the times, that
are of first consideration.
Any modification of historical fact in this dramatization has been made
only to give a fuller meaning to the great facts of history touched upon
therein. It is the period of the American Revolution that is to be
portrayed, as already stated--not alone those memorable days of June and
July, 1776, during which the debates on the Declaration of Independence
took place. For example, Patrick Henry was a member of the First and
the Second Continental Congress, though not a member at the time the
Declaration of Independence was debated, Washington was a member of the
First Continental Congress, but Jefferson was not. Congress was a
changing body in its membership then as is our Congress to-day.
Jefferson declares that Patrick Henry was the man who put the ball of
the American Revolution in motion. Not to give Henry a place in this
dramatization would be like the play of "Hamlet" with Hamlet left out.
It must be remembered that no record was made of the debates in the
Continental Congress as is done verbatim by expert reporters in Congress
to-day and published in the Congressional Record. Therefore, the
speeches herein have been adapted from such sources as Paine's
"Separation of Britain and America," Webster's "Supposed Speech of John
Adams," "Wirt's Supposed Speech of Patrick Henry," Alexander H.
Stephens's "Corner Stone Speech," Webster's "Supposed Speech of
Opposition to Independence," and Sumner's "True Grandeur of Nations."
The dialogue between Jefferson and Adams is taken from a letter of John
Adams to Timothy Pickering, dated August 6, 1822. The speeches of
Stephens and Sumner are paraphrased to suit the times to which they are
here applied.
Great care has been exercised to place each of the leading characters in
these debates on the side in which he _at that time_ conscientiously
believed. In the roll call in this drama on the vote for independence,
the history of each colony has been thoroughly studied so as to bring
out the changed attitude of the people of the various colonies toward
independence, as well as of certain members of the Continental Congress
on this question.
The scenes of Washington and his army just before the battle of Long
Island, the tableau of The Spirit of '76, and Washington's resignation
as commander-in-chief of the army, are introduced not alone for their
psychological effect on the dramatization proper, but for their own
worth in teaching patriotism.
With twenty-nine leading characters the dramatization can be well
staged. But if fifty-five characters are available--the number who
signed the Declaration, and if there is room for so many, so much the
better, except as the number of performers is increased there will be an
additional expense for costumes.[1] It may be given as a reading lesson
without costumes; it may be given so as a drama; but it is a greater
success given in costumes.
Those who take part in this dramatization should be costumed as nearly
like the characters they represent as possible. As a rule, wigs can be
rented for this purpose at a reasonable cost, and it will not be
difficult to dress in the style of the Revolutionary period--buckle
shoes, silk stockings, knee pants, ruffled shirt, and the conventional
coat of the time.
The same freedom must be permitted and exercised in carrying out this
dramatization, that marked the actors in the Continental Congress itself
in its stormy debates and noisy sessions. Immediately following the
close of each speech there should be a clamor for recognition on the
part of the delegates, but the president will be careful to recognize
the proper person so as to make the play move without any hitch. As each
speaker proceeds there should be a reasonable number of interruptions by
applause or dissenting voices so as to play both sides as strongly as
possible.
The parliamentary procedure must not be followed too strictly or it will
kill the interest in the play on the part of the public. It must be
given with dispatch and dramatic effect to make a happy hit.
These debates may be considered as an oratorical contest with prizes
awarded accordingly if so desired. It adds interest to the work.
It is hard to tell in which years of school work it is best to give this
dramatization--whether in the grammar grades, in the high school, or in
the college, for it is within the understanding of grammar grade boys;
it is not too elementary for young men in the high school; and it is
profound enough for the best thought and the best efforts of college
students. If given by grammar school boys and high school young men, it
will have a wholesome influence in training for a better citizenship at
an opportune time. If presented by college, university, and normal
school students it will give those who are fitting themselves for
teaching a valuable lesson in methods. If it were given by every grammar
school, high school, college, university and normal school, on every
Chautauqua platform, and by every patriotic society in the United States
on Washington's Birthday and other patriotic occasions, and then
repeated on the Fourth of July every year for the next decade it would
do much towards combating that dangerous "aggressive hyphenated
Americanism," that has sprung up in our country and whose baneful
effects it will take much earnest teaching to obliterate. When all
native-born children of foreign parentage, and when all citizens of
foreign birth know the story of the struggle and sacrifice by which our
country rose to her proud station it will make them feel "that they are
Americans among Americans; that they are part of America and have a
share and a duty toward American institutions." May it also cause those
native-born Americans who have become luke-warm in their love of
country, careless of its honor, and negligent in its defense to awake to
their duty with a spirit to do their duty before it is too late. May it
make of every one of us a truer American "by being wholly and without
reserve, and without divided allegiance, and with emphatic repudiation
of the entire principle of 'dual nationality,' an American citizen and
nothing else."
_In their ragged regimentals
Stood the old Continentals,
Yielding not,
When the grenadiers were lunging.
And like hail fell the plunging
Cannon shot;
When the files
Of the isles,
From the smoky night encampment, bore the banner of the rampant_
_Unicorn;_
_And grummer, grummer, grummer, rolled the roll of the drummer_
_Through the morn!_
[Illustration: TABLEAU--THE SPIRIT OF SEVENTY-SIX]
CAST OF CHARACTERS
SPEAKERS
FOR THE DECLARATION
John Hancock, _President_
Richard Henry Lee
John Adams
Roger Sherman
Benjamin Franklin
Samuel Adams
Joseph Hewes
Patrick Henry
Thomas Jefferson
AGAINST THE DECLARATION
Edward Rutledge
John Dickinson
George Walton
Robert Morris
Charles Thomson, _Secretary_
OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CONGRESS
Josiah Bartlett
Stephen Hopkins
William Floyd
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Samuel Chase
Benjamin Harrison
Lyman Hall
Oliver Wolcott
Elbridge Gerry
William Hooper
Benjamin Rush
Richard Stockton
Thomas McKean
Caesar Rodney
ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS
General Washington and his Army
Fifer }
Drummer } Leading the Army
Little Boy } in "The Spirit of '76"
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
ACT I.
SCENE I.--_Congress assembled; John Hancock in the chair as president;
his keynote speech._
JOHN HANCOCK.[2] Gentlemen of the Continental Congress:--I thank you for
the signal honor you have conferred on me in making me your presiding
officer. I am glad to see so many Colonies represented in this Congress.
Let us show the nations of the old world what the people of the new
world will do when left to themselves, to their own unbiased good sense,
and to their own true interests. On us depend the destinies of our
country--the fate of three millions of people, and of the countless
millions of our posterity. Matchless is our opportunity--matchless also
is our responsibility! May the God of nations guide us in our
deliberations and in our actions.
Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of
the slain, the weeping voice of Nature cries, "'Tis time to part." Even
the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and America, is a
strong and natural proof that the authority of the one over the other
was never the design of Heaven. The time, likewise, at which the
continent was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner
in which it was peopled, increases the force of it. The Reformation was
preceded by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously
meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home
should afford neither friendship nor safety.
The authority of Great Britain over this continent is a form of
government which sooner or later must have an end: and a serious mind
can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful and
positive conviction that what he calls "the present constitution" is
merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that this
government is not sufficiently lasting to insure anything which we may
bequeath to posterity; and by a plain method of argument, as we are
running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work of it,
otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In order to discover the
line of our duty rightly, we should take our children by the hand, and
fix our station a few years farther into life; that eminence will
present a prospect which a few present fears and prejudices conceal from
our sight.
Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offense, yet I am
inclined to believe that all those who espouse the doctrine of
reconciliation may be included within the following descriptions:
Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who cannot see;
prejudiced men, who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men, who
think better of the European world than it deserves: and this last
class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more
calamities to this continent than all the other three.
It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of sorrow;
the evil is not sufficiently brought to their doors to make them feel
the precariousness with which all American property is possessed. But
let our imaginations transport us a few moments to Boston; that seat of
wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and instruct us forever to renounce a
power in whom we can have no trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate
city, who but a few months ago were in ease and affluence, have no other
alternative than to stay and starve, or turn out to beg. Endangered by
the fire of their friends if they continue within the city, and
plundered by the soldiery if they leave it. In their present situation
they are prisoners without hope of redemption, and in a general attack
for their relief they would be exposed to the fury of both armies.
Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offenses of
Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, "Come,
come, we shall be friends again for all this." But examine the passions
and feelings of mankind, bring the doctrine of reconciliation to the
touchstone of nature, and then tell me whether you can hereafter love,
honor, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried fire and sword
into your land? If you cannot do all these, then are you deceiving
yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon your posterity. Your
future connection with Britain, whom you can neither love nor honor,
will be forced and unnatural, and being formed only on the plan of
present convenience, will in a little time fall into a relapse more
wretched than the first. But if you say you can still pass the
violations over, then I ask, hath your house been burnt? Hath your
property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and children
destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a
parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched
survivor? If you have not, then are you not a judge of those who have.
But if you have, and can still shake hands with the murderers, then are
you unworthy the name of husband, father, friend or lover, and, whatever
may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward and
the spirit of a sycophant.
Gentlemen of the First American Congress, in the name of Equality,
Fraternity and Liberty, I welcome you to this council. What is your
pleasure, gentlemen?
RICHARD HENRY LEE. Mr. President:--I wish to move the adoption of the
following resolution: "Resolved, that these united colonies are, and of
right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved
from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political
connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to
be, totally dissolved."
JOHN ADAMS. Mr. President:--I second the motion.
JOHN HANCOCK. Gentlemen of the Continental Congress, you have heard the
motion of Mr. Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, for immediate and absolute
independence. Are there any remarks?
RICHARD HENRY LEE. Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Continental
Congress:--Why do we delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day
give birth to an American republic. Let her arise, not to devastate and
to conquer, but to reëstablish the reign of peace and law. The eyes of
Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom
that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever
increasing tyranny which devastates her polluted shores. She invites us
to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace and the
persecuted repose. She entreats us to cultivate a propitious soil where
that generous plant of liberty, which first sprang and grew in England,
but is now withered by the blasts of tyranny may revive and flourish,
sheltering under its salubrious shade all the unfortunate of the human
race. If we are not this day wanting in our duty to our country, the
names of the American legislators of 1776 will be placed by posterity at
the side of Theseus, of Lycurgus, of Romulus, of Numa, of the three
Williams of Nassau and of all those whose memory has been and forever
will be, dear to virtuous men and good citizens.[3]
(_At the close of Mr. Lee's brief speech there is a clamor for
recognition. John Adams is recognized._)
JOHN ADAMS. Mr. President:--I move that a committee of five be selected
by ballot to draft a Declaration representing the views of these united
colonies.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Mr. President:--I second the motion.
JOHN HANCOCK. Gentlemen of the Continental Congress:--The motion has
been made and seconded that a committee of five be selected by ballot to
draft a proper Declaration representing the views of these united
colonies. You have heard the motion, are there any remarks? (_Calls for
the question._)
As many as favor this motion make it known by saying "aye" (_ayes
respond_); contrary, "no" (_noes respond_). The ayes seem to have it,
the ayes have it, and the motion is carried.
Gentlemen of the Continental Congress, I shall appoint Benjamin Rush of
Pennsylvania, Samuel Chase of Maryland, and Edward Rutledge of South
Carolina as tellers for this election and they will wait upon you for
your ballots for the committee. Please write the names of the five men
whom you wish to serve on this committee, on your ballot and deposit the
same in the hat when passed.
(_Ballots are gathered by the tellers who report the result to the
president of the Congress._)
Gentlemen of the Continental Congress:--By your ballots you have
selected the following persons as the committee of five to draft the
Declaration as already ordered--Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams
of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of
Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New York. Gentlemen, what is
your further pleasure?
SAMUEL ADAMS. Mr. President:--I move that the Congress do now take a
recess until to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock to give the committee just
appointed time in which to prepare the Declaration ordered.
JOSEPH HEWES. Mr. President:--I second the motion which Mr. Adams has
offered.
JOHN HANCOCK. Gentlemen of the Congress:--It has been moved and seconded
that this Congress take a recess until to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock
in order to give the committee just appointed time in which to prepare a
proper Declaration. You have heard the motion, are there any remarks?
(_Calls for question._)
As many as favor the motion make it known by saying "aye" (_ayes
respond_); contrary, "no" (_noes respond_). The ayes seem to have it,
the ayes have it, and this Congress will take a recess until to-morrow
morning at 10 o'clock.
CURTAIN
ACT II.
SCENE I.--_Meeting of the Committee of Five. Livingston absent._
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Gentlemen of the Committee, I move that Thomas
Jefferson and John Adams be appointed as a sub-committee of this
Committee of Five to draft the Declaration ordered by the Continental
Congress.
ROGER SHERMAN. I second the motion.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Gentlemen, you have heard the motion. As many as
favor the same make it known by saying "aye."
(_Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams are silent while Mr. Sherman and Mr.
Franklin vote aye._)
The ayes seem to have it, the ayes have it, and Mr. Jefferson and Mr.
Adams are elected.
JOHN ADAMS. Gentlemen, it seems to me you have taken snap judgment on
Mr. Jefferson and myself.
THOMAS JEFFERSON. Yes, gentlemen, you have.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. The committee has so ordered and as Congress itself
gave Mr. Jefferson the highest number of votes and Mr. Adams the next
highest number in the selection of this committee, I am sure that
Congress will be highly pleased at our having selected you for this
great work. We also feel that we should congratulate ourselves upon the
choice we have made.
JOHN ADAMS. Thank you, gentlemen, for the compliment.
THOMAS JEFFERSON. I join Mr. Adams in thanking you, gentlemen, for the
confidence you have in us.
ROGER SHERMAN. Gentlemen of the committee, I move that we take a recess
until to-night so as to give the sub-committee time to prepare the
Declaration.
MR. ADAMS. I second the motion.
MR. FRANKLIN. As many as favor the motion make it known by saying "aye"
(_ayes respond_). The ayes seem to have it, the ayes have it, and the
committee will take a recess until eight o'clock to-night.
(_Mr. Franklin and Mr. Sherman leave Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson to
themselves to deliberate over the Declaration._)
MR. JEFFERSON. Mr. Adams, I suggest that you make the draft of this
Declaration.
MR. ADAMS. I will not!
MR. JEFFERSON. [4]You should do it.
MR. ADAMS. Oh, no!
MR. JEFFERSON. Why will you not? You ought to do it.
MR. ADAMS. I will not!
MR. JEFFERSON. Why?
MR. ADAMS. Reasons enough.
MR. JEFFERSON. What can be your reasons?
MR. ADAMS. Reason first, you are a Virginian and a Virginian ought to
appear at the head of this business. Reason second, I am obnoxious,
suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third, you
can write ten times better than I can.
MR. JEFFERSON. Well, if you are decided, I will do the best I can.
MR. ADAMS. Very well, when you have drawn it up we will have a meeting.
(_Exeunt Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson._)