America is the home of social, religious, and political liberty — “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
As a nation, we have always been rich in land, and for this reason millions of people have sought our shores. We have come into possession of our territory through treaty, purchase, and annexation. In speaking of our territorial area we usually speak of the “original territory” and “additions” to same. When we speak of “original territory” we mean that part of the United States which was ceded to us by Great Britain in the peace treaty of 1783, at the close of the War of the Revolution. This territory, in brief, is described as follows: East to the Atlantic Ocean, west to the Mississippi River, north to the Great Lakes and Canada, and as far south as the northern line of Florida. We sometimes hear it spoken of as the territory of the “Thirteen Original States,” meaning the states that formed the Government of the Constitution in 1789. However if we look at the map we shall see that the original territory includes not only the territory of the thirteen original states, but comprises also land out of which twelve other states have been formed. Looking at this area to-day, however, it seems a small part of our country compared with our present limits.
Louisiana Purchase: What is known as the Louisiana Purchase we bought from France in 1803. It consisted of 875,025 square miles, for which we paid $15,000,000. It is described as follows: west of the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, north to Canada, and south to the Gulf of Mexico, exclusive of Texas. This is a territory greater than the present combined areas of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, and the Balkan states.
Florida Purchase: In 1819, we purchased Florida from Spain at a cost of over $5,000,000, and this single state is larger in territorial area than the combined territory of Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland.
Texas: In 1845, Texas came to us by annexation, but the outcome of this annexation later on was our war with Mexico. In territorial area this is an empire in itself — larger than the whole German Empire.
Oregon Territory: In 1846, by treaty with Great Britain, we acquired what is known as the Oregon Territory. This includes the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
Mexican Cession and Purchase from Texas: As an outcome of the Mexican War, we obtained from Mexico, in 1848, the territory of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and a part of New Mexico at a cost of $15,000,000; and in 1850, we purchased from Texas the remaining part of New Mexico and that part of Colorado not included in the Louisiana Purchase, at a cost of $10,000,000.
Gadsden Purchase: In 1853, we made what is known as the Gadsden Purchase, acquiring thus from Mexico a needed tract of land on the boundary between Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico, paying for this tract $10,000,000.
Alaska: In 1867, we paid Russia $7,000,000, and added Alaska to our possessions. This purchase is spoken of in history as “Seward’s Folly,” because the transaction, made while he was secretary of state, was not generally considered a good bargain. Nevertheless it has proved one of our most valuable possessions.
Hawaii: In 1898, we reached out into the Pacific waters and annexed the beautiful Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands.
Porto Rico, Pine Islands, Guam, Philippine Islands: In 1898, the island of Porto Rico with an area of 3600 square miles came into our possession as an outcome of the Spanish-American War; likewise the Pine Islands with their 882 square miles; Guam with 175 square miles; and the Philippine Islands with a territorial area of 143,000 square miles. But for these latter in settlement of a number of private claims, and to gain peaceable possession of various public lands, we paid Spain $20,000,000.
Samoan Islands: In 1899, we acquired the Samoan Islands, with an area of 73 square miles; and, in 1901, some additional islands in the Philippines.
The first permanent English settlements in America were made at Jamestown, Va., in 1607, and at Plymouth, Mass., in 1620; and from these two settlements we may trace in large part the growth, character, and development of our national life. The story of the “Pilgrim Fathers” in Massachusetts has been told for generations in literature and in song, and can never cease to be of romantic and thrilling interest.
The story of the settlement and dispersal of other nationalities in America — the Swedes in Delaware, the Dutch in New York, the Spanish and French in Florida and along the banks of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers — all this is summed up in what is known as “colonial history.”
In 1763, at the close of the French and Indian wars, England had come into possession of practically all the territory east of the Mississippi — that territory which was ceded in 1783 as the original territory of the United States.
You will sometimes hear it said that thirteen is an unlucky number. Indeed you may have known people so superstitious that they refuse to sit down at a table when the number is thirteen. Again you may know it to be a fact that some hotels do not have a room numbered thirteen, and that many steamboats likewise follow the same custom in state-room arrangement. Strange superstition for Americans! It took thirteen states to make our Union; we have made thirteen additions to our territory; when George Washington was inaugurated as president, a salute of thirteen guns was fired; and, finally, the foundation of the flag of our country bears thirteen stripes.
The story of the American Revolution (1775—1783) — Declaration of Independence (1776), the adoption of the Articles of Confederation (1781), and, finally, the making and adoption of the Constitution of the United States in 1789 — all is summed up in a period of fourteen years, and may be told and written in the life of George Washington, who was indeed the “Father of His Country.”
The cause of the American Revolution was England’s oppression of her American colonists; and the injustice of taxation without representation, with other injustices, finally brought about rebellion. The war began in Massachusetts with the battles of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775, and ended at Yorktown, Va., October 19, 1781. The treaty of peace was signed at Paris, France, September 3, 1783, and November 25 of that year, known in history as “Evacuation Day,” the British took their departure down the bay of New York harbor and America was free.
Now do we find ourselves at the fireside of American patriotism. Here is Washington. He is a Virginian, and the American people know him at this time as Colonel Washington. It is the 13th day of June, 1775, and the second Continental Congress is in session at Philadelphia. John Adams of Massachusetts has the floor. He is to show himself at this time the master statesman. Justly has he been called the “Colossus of the Revolution.” On his way to Independence Hall this morning he meets his cousin, Samuel Adams, and tells him what he is going to do. “We must,” he says, “act on this. matter at once. We must make Congress declare for or against something. I’ll tell you what I am going to do. I am determined this very morning to make a direct motion that Congress shall adopt the army before Boston, and appoint the Virginian, Colonel Washington, commander of it.”
Adams is now stating to the Congress the gravity of the situation; he points out the necessity of immediate action — the colonies must be united, the army must be brought together, disciplined, and trained for service, and, under Congress, a fitting commander appointed. “Such a gentleman,” he said, “I have in mind. I mention no names, but every gentleman here knows him at once as a brave soldier and a man of affairs. He is a gentleman from Virginia, one of this body, and well known to all of us. He is a gentleman of skill and excellent universal character and would command the approbation of all the colonies better than any other person in the Union.”
George Washington is in the hall. The eyes of all Congress have turned toward him. He is surprised, confused, and embarrassed, leaves his seat and hurries into the library.
Congress spent two days considering Adams’s motion, for there were other men who had hoped for the appointment; but finally, on the 15th of June, 1775, a ballot was taken, and Washington was unanimously elected commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
On July 2, 1775, he took command of the army at Cambridge, Mass., and March 17, 1776, the British were expelled from Boston.
We now come to the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. It was written by Thomas Jefferson, at that time a young man of thirty-three. The committee of the General Congress appointed to draft it, consisted of the following: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston.
The strong feeling of Thomas Jefferson as he wrote the Declaration is indicated by his statement that, “Rather than submit to the right of legislating for us assumed by the British Parliament, I would lend my hand to sink the whole island in the ocean.” Here also we get a glimpse of one of the most interesting and delightful characters in the history of this period — Benjamin Franklin. History records that while Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, a few verbal suggestions were made by Doctor Franklin, as the following conversation reported to have taken place between them would indicate: “Well, Brother Jefferson,” said Franklin, “is the fair copy made?” “All ready, doctor,” replied Jefferson. “Will you hear it through once more?” “As many times as you wish,” responded the smiling doctor, with a merry twinkle in his eyes. “One can’t get too much of a good thing, you know.” Jefferson then read to Franklin the Declaration of Independence, which has been pronounced one of the world’s greatest papers. “That’s good, Thomas! That’s right to the point! That will make King George wince. I wish I had done it myself.” It is said Franklin would “have put a joke into the Declaration of Independence, if it had fallen to his lot to write that immortal document.”
The Declaration of Independence went forth to the world signed by one man, John Hancock — which explains the expression you sometimes hear, “Put your John Hancock there.” It was, however, signed later by all the members of that Congress — fifty-four in number. This immortal document has been carefully preserved and the original may be seen at Washington.
The Declaration was a notice to Great Britain and to all the world that the American colonists would no longer be subject to Great Britain; that henceforth they were to be a free and independent people, holding Great Britain as they held the rest of mankind, “enemies in war — in peace friends.” This Declaration marks the birth of our nation.
Our government fathers fully realized the step they were taking. They knew it meant a final breaking with the home government of England, but — “with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,” in support of this Declaration, they pledged to each other “their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.”
Following the expulsion of the British from Boston, the battle field of the Revolution changes to New York, moving to Harlem Heights and White Plains; then to New Jersey; Trenton, and Princeton; then to Pennsylvania; Brandywine, Westchester, Germantown, Valley Forge, and on to Monmouth.
But here let us pause. It has been a terrible winter at Valley Forge. While the British at Philadelphia, twenty miles away, have been living in luxury, our Washington and his men have suffered bitterly with hunger and cold; and out of a list of eleven thousand men, three thousand at Valley Forge lay sick at one time. But at last the spring has come and Washington has now been nearly three years in service. Listen! The order has gone forth! At 10:30 o’clock comes the signal, and the firing of a cannon sees all men under arms! At 11:30 o’clock the second signal is given and the march begins. It is May 7, 1778, and Washington is assembling his men. Great news has come and it is fitting to return thanks to Divine Providence — so reads his proclamation.
Now comes the third signal, the firing of thirteen cannon! Another signal! and the whole army breaks into a loud huzza — “Long live the King of France!” followed by a running fire of guns.
On this same day in the afternoon, Washington gives a banquet to his officers, aides, and guests, to which they march arm-in-arm, thirteen abreast. What does it mean? It means that Benjamin Franklin has been heard from, and that an alliance with France, England’s bitterest enemy, has been made. Some day when you are in Washington, you may see directly in front of the White House, Lafayette Park, and, knowing the story of the Revolution, you understand why it is there. You also understand why Washington’s army on that May morning shouted, “Long live the King of France.”
But it is not our purpose here to tell the whole story: we can only touch the high points. Again the army moves to White Plains and on to Middlebrook and New Windsor; and Washington spends the winter (1781) at Morristown, N. J. The end is approaching. He joins Lafayette at Yorktown, Va., and on October 19th, Cornwallis, the British general, surrenders to George Washington, commander-in-chief of the American Army. Thus the conflict begun in one English settlement is ended in the other. Massachusetts marks the beginning and Virginia the ending of the War of the Revolution.
The War of 1812 was a naval war. It was a battle for rights — the rights of our sailors, the rights of our commerce. American ships and cargoes were being confiscated. France and England and the Barbary pirates were engaged in a profitable war on our commerce, and last but not least twenty thousand American seamen had been pressed into service and were slaves on ships that were foreign, England especially claiming the right to search American ships and press into service all men found on board who were English by birth, though American by choice and adoption.
“Once a subject always a subject,” said Great Britain, but our answer in 1812 was as it is now: any foreigner after five years’ residence within our territory, who has complied with our naturalization laws and taken the oath of allegiance to our flag, becomes one of our citizens as completely as if he were native born.
This war is sometimes spoken of as a “leaderless war,” but great leaders came out of it. The names of Hull, Perry, and Lawrence are memorable in its history; it was the war which made Andrew Jackson, known as “Old Hickory,” President of the United States in 1828. You will read the story of his great victory in the Battle of New Orleans.
Some day you will read the life story of David Glasgow Farragut of whom it is said that, with the exception of Nelson, the great English admiral, “he was as great an admiral as ever sailed the broad or narrow seas.” Although the great work of Farragut was in the Civil War, the story of his life began in the War of 1812 when he was but ten years old. Admiral Farragut is reported as giving this explanation, in the late years of his life, of his success in the service of his country
“It was all owing to a resolution that I formed when I was ten years old. My father was sent to New Orleans with the little navy we had, to look after the treason of Burr. I accompanied him as cabin-boy. I had some qualities that I thought made a man of me. I could swear like an old salt, could drink as stiff a glass of grog as if I had doubled Cape Horn, and could smoke like a locomotive. I was great at cards, and was fond of gambling in every shape. At the close of dinner one day, my father turned everybody out of the cabin, locked the door, and said to me:
“‘David, what do you mean to be?’
“‘I mean to follow the sea,’ I said.
“‘Follow the sea!’ exclaimed my father; ‘yes, be a poor, miserable, drunken sailor before the mast, kicked and cuffed about the world, and die in some fever hospital in a foreign clime?’
“‘No, father,’ I replied, ‘I will tread the quarter-deck, and command as you do!’
“‘No, David; no boy ever trod the quarter-deck with such principles as you have, and such habits as you exhibit. You will have to change your whole course of life if you ever become a man.’
“My father left me and went on deck. I was stunned by the rebuke, and overwhelmed with mortification. ‘A poor, miserable, drunken sailor before the mast, kicked and cuffed about the world, and die in some fever hospital!’ That’s my fate is it? I’ll change my life, and I will change it at once. I will never utter another oath, never drink another drop of intoxicating liquor, never gamble, and as God is my witness I have kept these three vows to this hour.”
The sun is slowly sinking in the west. The men of the army and navy are drawn up at attention. At every fort, army post, and navy yard, and on every American battle-ship at home or abroad, the flag of our country is flying at full mast. The sunset gun will soon be fired, and night will follow the day as darkness follows the light. All is ready, the signal is given, the men salute, and the flag to the band’s accompaniment of “The Star Spangled Banner” slowly descends for the night to be folded and kept for the morning’s hoisting.
“And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.”
In the cemetery of Mt. Olivet, near Frederick, Md., there is a spot where the flag of our country is never lowered. It is keeping watch by night as by day over the grave of Francis Scott Key, author of “The Star Spangled Banner.” He was born in Frederick County, Md., August 1, 1779, and died in Baltimore, January 11, 1843.
The Congress of the United States has never formally adopted “The Star Spangled Banner” as a national anthem, but it has become such through the recognition given to it by the army and navy. It is played on all state occasions at home or abroad and is the response of our bands at all international gatherings. In the theatre, at a public meeting, or at a banquet — whenever it is played, the people rise and remain standing to the end as a tribute to the flag of our country.
The poem itself is descriptive of what the author saw and felt on the night of September 13, 1814, as he watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British during the War of 1812. The city of Washington had been sacked, bombarded, and burned by the British, and now in their march of destruction, they were bombarding the fort to gain entrance to Baltimore’s harbor, in which city they had purposed to spend the winter. We can well imagine the joy of Key’s heart, the son of a Revolutionary patriot, held in custody on a British battle-ship, to see in the morning “that our flag was still there,” and to know, therefore, that there was still hope for our country.
“Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, ‘In God is our Trust’.”
The history of the fifty-six years between 1789 and 1845 is marked by the development of new states formed out of the territorial settlement of the wilderness. The people of our country have always been pioneering, going ahead of civilization, so to speak, but always taking it with them. Scouts they have been in every sense of the word. Following the rivers, clearing the forests, fording the streams, braving the dangers, living the wild life — brave men and women!
The first state to come into the Union of the thirteen original states was Vermont, the “Green Mountain” state (1791); next came Kentucky (1792), the “Blue Grass” state, the home of Daniel Boone, the great hunter and pioneer. Four years later, (1796) came Tennessee, the “Volunteer” state, receiving this name bcause of its large number of volunteer soldiers for the Seminole war and the War of 1812; next comes Ohio (1803), the “Buckeye,” so called because of the large number of buckeye trees, the nut of which bears some resemblance to a buck’s eye. This is the first state to be formed out of the public domain, known at this time as the “Northwest Territory.” The land ordinance bill of 1785 and the homestead act of 1862 relate to the development and settlement of the public domain, the first being a plan of survey applied to all public lands owned by the United States government; the other being a law by which the possession of these lands was made possible to settlers.
Following Ohio into the Union came Louisiana( 1812), the “Creole” state whose people were descendants of the original French and Spanish settlers. This was the first state to be formed west of the Mississippi, and New Orleans, its chief city, known as the “Crescent City,” is one of the oldest in our country and full of historic interest.
After the War of 1812 the new states began to come in rapidly. The admission of Indiana (1816), “The Hoosier”; Mississippi (1817), the “Bayou”; Illinois, the “Prairie” (1818); Alabama (1810), the “Cotton,” show that the pioneer settlements of our people had been closing in along the banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers.
We now go back to the far East, for the state of Maine, our “Pine Tree” state, has now been developed, and its admission (1820) completes the coast line of states as far south as Georgia. The next state admitted is Missouri (1821), the “Iron,” followed by Arkansas, the “Bear” (1836), to be followed in turn by Michigan (1836), the “Lake ” or “Wolverine” state, the thirteenth state to be admitted; and the stars in our flag are now doubled.
The first census of the United States was taken in 1790, and the Constitution provided that it must be taken every ten years thereafter. In that year, the order of states in rank of population was as follows: Virginia first, Pennsylvania second, North Carolina third, Massachusetts fourth, and New York fifth.
The census of 1820 makes a decided change, we find, in the order of population, and New York comes first, Virginia second, Pennsylvania third, North Carolina fourth, Ohio fifth, Kentucky sixth, and Massachusetts seventh.
The states of Florida and Texas came into the Union in the same year — the one March 3 and the other December 29, 1845; and thereby hangs a tale. It had been claimed by our government that Texas was included in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803; but the Mexicans claimed it also, and, in 1819, in order to close the deal for the purchase of Florida, our government was obliged to relinquish its claim to Texas. At this time the possession of Florida was more desirable and necessary to the peace of our country than the possession of Texas; it was under Spanish rule, overrun with outlaws and a most undesirable neighbor, besides being very necessary to the rounding out of our coast territory.
The annexation and admission of Texas into the Union in 1845 came about through the pioneering and settlement of our people in her territory; where at first welcomed and encouraged by the Mexicans, they were later deluged in blood. The spirit of Americanism grew rampant under the barbaric and military despotism of the Mexican government, and in 1835 there was an uprising of the settlers led by a pioneer, an ex-governor of Tennessee, Gen. Samuel Houston, the man for whom the city of Houston, Texas, was named. At this time there were about ten thousand Americans in Texas, and on March 2, 1836, through their representatives in convention assembled, these Americans in true Revolutionary spirit declared Texas an independent republic. The Mexican government tried to put down this rebellion, but met with a crushing defeat, and Texas, the “Lone Star” state, remained an independent republic up to the time of her annexation and admission as a state of the Union.
The cause of the war with Mexico, then, was her resentment because Texas began to move for annexation to the United States. The fact that Texas had been for many years an independent republic and been so recognized by the United States, Great Britain, France, and some smaller countries, gave Texas the right on her part to ask for annexation, and the United States the right to annex her. But in order to bring Texas into the Union and save her people from the Mexicans, the United States was obliged to declare war against Mexico. This she did May 13, 1845, although Texas was not admitted as a state until December 29th of that year. The war lasted nearly three years, peace being declared February 2, 1848. As an outcome of the war the peaceful possession of Texas was secured, and also possession of the territory of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and a part of Colorado and New Mexico, for which territory, however, our government in final settlement paid Mexico, $15,000,000.
During the Mexican War, Iowa (1846),the “Hawkeye” state, came into the Union, followed by the state of Wisconsin (1848). the “Badger.” Next comes the story of the “Forty-niners,” and California (1850), the “Golden State,” enters the Union; and then comes Minnesota (1858), the “North Star” State, and the Great Lakes are walled in, this state completing the circuit. Oregon, (1859), , the “Beaver” follows, then the “Garden of the West,” Kansas (1861), and the Civil War is upon us. Of course, we do not mean to say that Kansas was the cause of the Civil War, although it had much to do with it.
The Civil War was a war between states, in the government of the United States — between states that were slave and states that were free.
The rights of property ownership are involved in state rights, and slaves held as property in slave-holding states were not recognized as such in states that were free. Therefore, the principle of slavery became involved not alone in the individual ownership of slaves, but also in the rights of a state, and the relationship of states to each other in the government of the United States.
At the close of the Revolutionary War, one of the first things to be settled was the boundaries as between states of the land comprising the thirteen original states; and as an outcome of this settlement, there came into possession of the United States all of that territory ceded by Great Britain in 1783, which was not included in the boundaries of those states. This territory, in brief, may be described as the territory east of the Mississippi, and north and south of the Ohio River; and out of this territory and that west of the Mississippi added later (1803) through the Louisiana Purchase, most of the new states were formed that came into the Union before the Civil War. And this was the beginning of what is known as the “public domain ” — that is, land owned by the Federal Government.
In 1785, Congress passed a law which has become general in its application to all public lands of the United States. It is a law for the uniform survey of public lands into townships six miles square, subdivided into sections containing 640 acres, and quarter sections containing 160 acres. The purpose of the government in making this survey was to make public lands in the territories of the government easy of settlement, and as the townships became settled, to develop in them the local township form of government.
The territory north of the Ohio River was designated the “Northwest Territory.” As soon as the public lands in this territory were thrown open to settlers, they began to pour in. Indeed, in many instances, they went ahead of the survey.
The next step taken by Congress was to pass a law, in 1787, for the government and protection of those settlers in this Northwest Territory, and in this law Congress made provision that slavery should be prohibited. Therefore, states formed in this territory had to come into the Union as free states. This was a restriction of slavery, however, which did not apply to the territory south of the Ohio, nor west of the Mississippi; so that when a new state came into the Union, formed’ out of either one of these territories, it became a great political factor in our government either for or against slavery.
In the passing of the years, many changes were taking place in our government, but there came a time when the people began to realize that slavery was spreading and that our government was politically divided between states that were slave and states that were free — or, in other words, that in the principle of slavery the peace and preservation of the Union were involved.
And thus it happened that the slave-holding states, not being able to live at peace in the Union, decided to go out of it, and live by themselves. The right of a state to leave the Union was called “the right of secession” — a right which the North held did not exist under the Constitution.
Nevertheless, one by one, under the leadership of South Carolina, December 20, 1860, the slave-holding states announced their secession, either by act of state legislature or in convention assembled; and on February 4, 1861, there had been formed in our government a Southern confederency. At this time the whole number of states in the Union was thirty-two, and of this number eleven entered the Southern confederacy.
The first shot was fired by the Southern confederacy on April 12, 1861, against Fort Sumter, a fortification of the Federal Government over which floated the stars and stripes. The war lasted four years, ending on April 9, 1865, when Robert E. Lee, commander-in-chief of the army of the Southern confederacy, surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, commander-in-chief of the Federal army.
The central figure in the Civil War is Abraham Lincoln — in heart, brain, and character, not only one of our greatest Americans, but one of the world’s greatest men.
Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. His parents had come to this then pioneer state from Virginia, and his grandfather, whose Christian name he bore, moved there as early as 1781, where, a few years later, he was killed by the Indians while trying to make a home in the forest. When Lincoln was eight years old, his people moved to the new state of Indiana about the time it came into the Union, and there he lived until he was twenty-one, when he went to Illinois, from which state, eventually, he was elected President.
In 1859, when he was beginning to gain some recognition as a national figure, he was asked to write a little sketch of his life, and in the letter enclosing it he said: “There is not much of it, for the reason, I suppose, there is not much of me.” In this sketch, which is indeed brief, he tells us he was raised to farm work until he was twenty-two; that up to that time he had had little education; and when he became of age he did not know much beyond reading, writing, and ciphering to the “rule of three.” He clerked for one year in a store and was elected and served as captain of the volunteers in the Black Hawk War; later on he ran for the state legislature (1832) and was defeated, though successful in the three succeeding elections. While in the state legislature, he studied law and later went to Springfield to practise it. The only other public office he makes note of is his election to the lower house of Congress for one term (1846). He returned to Springfield and took up more earnestly the study and practice of law; he entered with spirit into the political campaigns, and constantly was growing in public esteem. His public debates with Douglas (1858) made him a familiar figure throughout the state of Illinois, and his profound knowledge and masterful handling of questions debated, his convincing and unanswerable arguments, his clear grasp of the political situation, began to gain the attention of Eastern politicians, convincing them and the country at large that they had a mighty force to reckon with in the prairie state of Illinois.
Although he lost the election to the United States Senate, and Douglas won, the campaign had pushed him to the front as a national figure, and paved the way for his presidential nomination.
In 1860, at the Republican convention assembled in Chicago, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President. In November he was elected and March 4, 1861, he was inaugurated. His address at this time was an earnest plea for peace and friendship between the North and the South: “We are not enemies but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bond of affection.”
But the war tide was rising and could not be stemmed; four years of bitter conflict ensued. Lincoln’s emancipation of the slaves was made only after he had convinced himself it could not be longer deferred and preserve the Union. “My paramount duty,” he said, “is to save the Union, and not either to destroy or save slavery. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would save the Union.” His Emancipation Proclamation, officially freeing the slaves, was finally issued in September, 1862, to take effect Jan, 1st of the following year.
Lincoln was elected to the Presidency for the second term and inaugurated March 4, 1865, while the war was still on. His second inaugural address closes with these words with which every boy should be familiar, voicing as they do the exalted spirit of a great and good man:
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and for his orphan; to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.
The war ended on April 9th of this same year, and on April 14th, the President, weary with the cares of state, but with the burden of the war clouds lifted, had gone to Ford’s Theatre in Washington for an evening’s entertainment and pleasure, accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln. The box which the President occupied had been most elaborately decorated with the flag of the country. His coming had been heralded abroad and the audience that had assembled in his honor was large, brilliant, and joyously happy over the assured preservation of the Union. In the midst of the play, the assassin, J. Wilkes Booth, entered the box and fired the fatal shot. The body of the bleeding President was taken to a house across the street where the next morning at 7:20 o’clock he died. Thus the emancipator of the slave, the friend of the whole people and the savior of our country died, a martyr to the cause of freedom.
Washington has been called “the aristocrat,” and Lincoln “the man of the people.” The one had culture, wealth, and social position; the other lacked all of these in his early years. Lincoln’s early life was cradled in the woods, and all of life out of doors had been his in the new and pioneer states of the wilderness. He grew up not knowing many people, but somehow in his up-coming there was developed in his life a great heart full of tenderness and kindly feeling. Doubtless it was the very hardships of life that made him what he was. At any rate, he was one of the greatest and noblest figures in all history. He was called “Honest Abe” by those who knew him because always, even in little things, he wanted to see perfect justice done; and thus it was, when he came to things of large importance, that the man was only a boy grown tall, not only in stature but in the things that make for righteousness in a nation.
The war with Spain was not of this country’s seeking. The island of Cuba, whose distress had aroused the sympathy of the whole world, was our near neighbor, and to sit idly by and witness the inhuman treatment practised by the Spanish soldiery upon the helpless islanders would hardly be a part creditable to any people. It was not our intention at first to do other than to relieve the suffering and distress of Cuba, near at hand, and this we tried to do peaceably in the supplying of food and other necessities of life.
As the next step, the United States sent a remonstrance to Spain telling her she should send a more humane governor to the island. But as matters grew worse instead of better, even under a change of governors, the sympathy of the United States became daily more deeply enlisted in the freedom of the Cubans.
The battle ship Maine was sent to Havana Harbor to protect, if need be, the Americans and American interests in Cuba. On the night of February 15th, 1898, an explosion occurred, sinking the ship almost immediately.
With the destruction of the Maine — whether by accident or intent — with the appalling loss of two hundred and fifty-six men, including two officers, relations with Spain became more and more strained, until war seemed inevitable. On April 11, 1898, President McKinley in a special message to Congress, said: “In the name of humanity and civilization, the war in Cuba must stop.”
War indeed was formally declared April 25th, and in the brief space of one hundred and fourteen days history had added to its annals: the blockading of Cuban ports whereby the Spanish fleet was trapped; the invasion and siege of the island by United States regulars, volunteers, and rough riders; the destruction of the Pacific Spanish fleet in Manila Bay by Admiral Dewey; and, finally, the destruction of the remainder of the Spanish fleet under command of Admiral Cervera, Sunday morning, July 3d. The final outcome of this war was the freedom of Cuba and the possession by the United States of Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands.
There is no country in the world less warlike than ours, and no country in the world that more potently argues for. universal peace. We have never departed from the spirit of our Declaration of Independence, “that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” We put it into our Constitution when we said, “in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” we “do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Such has been, then, and always must be, our programme — the chart and compass of all our ways.
“A star for every state and a state for every star.”
The flag of one’s country is its dearest possession — emblem of home, and country, and native land. This is what one thinks and feels when he sees the flag, and this is what it means. Our flag is the emblem of liberty — the emblem of hope — the emblem of peace and good-will toward men.
There is a story, quite generally believed, that the first flag was planned and made in 1776 by Betsy Ross, who kept an upholstery shop on Arch Street, Philadelphia, and that this, a year later, was adopted by Congress. The special committee appointed to design a national flag consisted of George Washington, Robert Morris, and Col. George Ross, uncle of the late husband of Betsy Ross. The star that the committee decided upon had six points, but Mrs. Ross advised the five-pointed star, which has ever since been used in the United States flag. The flag thus designed was colored by a local artist, and from this colored copy Betsy Ross made the first American flag.
When Washington was in command at Cambridge, in January, 1776, the flag used by him consisted of a banner of thirteen red and white stripes with the British Union Jack in the upper left-hand corner.
The Betsy Ross house has been purchased by the American Flag House and Betsy Ross Memorial Association, and is pointed out as one of the interesting historical places in Philadelphia.
The official history of our flag begins on June 14, 1777, when the American Congress adopted the following resolution proposed by John Adams:
Resolved: That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white: that the Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.
“We take,” said Washington, “the star from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty.”
In designing the flag there was much discussion as to the arrangement of the stars in the field of blue. It was thought at one time that a new stripe as well as a new star should be added for each new state admitted to the Union. Indeed, in 1794, Congress passed an act to the effect that on and after May 1, 1795, “the flag of the United States be fifteen stripes, alternate red and white; and that the union be fifteen stars, white in a field of blue. These additional stars and stripes were for the states of Vermont and Kentucky.
The impracticability of adding a stripe for each state was apparent as other states began to be admitted. Moreover, the flag of fifteen stripes, it was thought, did not properly represent the Union; therefore, on April 14, 1818, after a period of twenty-one years in which the flag of fifteen stripes had been used, Congress passed an act which finally fixed the general flag of our country, which reads as follows:
Sec. 1. Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the fourth day of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; that the union have twenty stars, white in a blue field.
Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, that, on the admission of every new state into the union, one star be added to the union of the flag; and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth day of July succeeding such admission.
June 14th, the anniversary of the adoption of the flag, is celebrated as flag day in many of our states.
In order to show proper respect for the flag, the following rules should be observed:
It should not be hoisted before sunrise nor allowed to remain up after sunset.
At “retreat,” sunset, civilian spectators should stand at attention and give the military salute.
When the national colors are passing on parade or review, the spectators should, if walking, halt, and if sitting, rise and stand at attention and uncover.
When the flag is flown at half staff as a sign of mourning it should be hoisted to full staff at the conclusion of the funeral. In placing the flag at half mast, it should first be hoisted to the top of the staff and then lowered to position, and preliminary to lowering from half staff it should first be raised to top.
On Memorial Day, May 30th, the flag should fly at half mast from sunrise until noon, and full staff from noon to sunset.
(Taken from the “Sons of the Revolution,” state of New York.)
“ I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
The Congress of the United States is its law-making body, and is composed of the Senate and House of Representatives. Senators are elected for six years, two from each state; representatives for two years, each state being represented in proportion to its population. The Vice-president of the United States is the president of the Senate, and the presiding officer of the House of Representatives is chosen by the members from their number; he is called the speaker. The salary of the senators and representatives is $7,500 a year and 20 cents per mile is allowed for traveling to and from Washington. The speaker’s salary is $12,000 a year.
The President is elected for a term of four years. He lives during his term of office at the White House, where presidential receptions and social affairs of state are held. The President’s offices are connected with the White House. Here he receives his callers and here the meetings of his Cabinet are held. The salary of the President is $75,000, a year.
The members of the Cabinet are the officers and heads of the several departments of the administrative government. They are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The members of the Cabinet are as follows: secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, secretary of war, attorney general, postmaster general, secretary of the navy, secretary of the interior, secretary of agriculture, secretary of commerce and labor. The members of the Cabinet are such men as the President believes are qualified to serve during his administration of office, and are usually members of the same political party as the President.
The Supreme Court of the United States is at Washington, D. C., but there are other courts of the United States held in the several states, called district courts.
The capitol at Washington is the home of Congress, and the Supreme Court. The Library of Congress, the Treasury, Army and Navy, Pension, Post-office, and many other buildings of public character are located in Washington. These during certain hours are open to visitors.
The President, in accordance with the Constitution, is commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States and of the militia of the several states when called to the actual service of the United States. The law provides that the total strength of the army shall not exceed at any one time 100,000. As now organized (1910) the total strength of the staff and line is 76,911 not including the provisional force and the hospital corps. These figures include the Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry, the Service School Detachments, the Military Academy (officers, soldiers and cadets), the Indian Scouts, 52,000 native scouts in the Philippine Islands, 193 First Lieutenants of the Medical Reserve Corps on active duty, and 11,777 recruits, etc. They do not include the veterinary surgeons, the officers of the Medical Reserve Corps not on active duty, nor the retired officers and enlisted men of the army. The appropriation for the maintenance of the army for the year 1000—10 was $100,330,181.
The law of our country states that in time of war every able-bodied male citizen, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, shall be counted a member of the state militia. The state militia is divided into two classes: one, the organized, known as the national guard; and the other the unorganized, known as the reserve militia.
The membership of the national guard is voluntary. One may join or not, as he chooses, except that in some states the law requires that students at the state university shall receive military training for at least a part of their university course, and during that time they are accounted a part of the national guard of the State. The governor of each state holds the same relationship to the state militia as the President to the army and navy: he is commander-in-chief.
The United States Military Academy is at West Point, N. Y., on the Hudson River. The number of students is limited to 533, and appointments to the academy are made in accordance with the rule which permits each United States senator and each congressman to have one representative, and also gives the President the right to make forty appointments at large. Candidates for appointment must be between the ages of seventeen and twenty-two; must pass the required physical examination; also an examination in English grammar, composition and literature, algebra and geometry, geography and history. The course of instruction is four years; the discipline very strict. Only one leave of absence is granted during the entire four years, and this comes at the close of the second year. The pay is $709.50 per year, and on graduation a cadet is commissioned a second lieutenant. To receive an appointment to West Point, one must apply to his United States senator or to a congressman in the state in which he lives, or to the President.
The enlisted strength of the navy, as in the army, is limited. The law allows 47,500 men and apprenticed seamen. The number of officers and enlisted men at the present time is 46,898, and the annual expenditure for the support of the navy at this date (1911) is about $130,000,000.
The enlistment of men in the United States navy, as in the army, is voluntary. The term is four years. To be eligible for enlistment one must be between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. He must be of good moral character, must pass the physical examination, must be able to write English, and take the oath of allegiance.
In the District of Columbia and in twenty of the states we have what is known as the naval militia. The assistant secretary of the navy stands in a special relation to the naval militia through the governor and the adjutant-general of the several states. The naval militia holds the same relationship to the navy that the national guard does to the United States army.
The United States Naval Academy is at Annapolis, Md. The students are called midshipmen, and candidates for appointment must be between the ages of sixteen and twenty. The appointment of candidates is made as at West Point — through senators and congressmen and the President, the only difference being in the number of appointments that may be made: each senator and representative may be represented by two midshipmen at Annapolis, while at West Point he is represented by but one cadet. The President has the appointment of seven men to the Naval Academy — two from the District of Columbia and five from the United States at large. He may also appoint one from Porto Rico, who must be a native. The midshipmen’s course is six years — four at Annapolis, and two at sea. The pay is $600 per year.
In the administration of the government of the United States, thousands of men and women are employed in the various offices at Washington, and are sometimes termed the great “peace army.”
In one period of our country’s history, it was believed that each President, when he came into office, had the right to turn out of office every person employed by the government in any of its civil departments, should it please him to do so, and to put into office his own friends or the friends of his party. This right was claimed on the ground that “to the victor belong the spoils” — a theory of government administration that has been severely dealt with and reformed through what is known as the “ Civil Service Act.” The Civil Service Act was passed by Congress January 16, 1883, and by this act a civil service commission was brought into existence. The three members of this commission are appointed by the President with consent of the Senate, not more than two of whom may be members of the same party. Thus, by this civil service act, positions in the government service are now obtained for the most part through competitive examinations, and such positions are not affected in any way by the incoming of a new President or the appointment of a new head of a department.
In some states and in most of the large cities civil service appointments are now made through competitive examinations. Any one interested in learning what positions may be secured in the service of the government, may apply to the Civil Service Commission at Washington, D. C., or make inquiry at the local post-office.
The foreign service of our government is carried on through the diplomatic corps and the consular service. In the diplomatic corps, we have ambassadors, envoys, ministers, diplomatic agents, and secretaries; in the consular service, consuls general, consuls, and consular agents.
Our diplomatic representatives abroad look after our interests as a nation in the family of nations. They represent us socially as well as politically in the great foreign capitals of the world. They are received as our representatives of state, and it is their duty to sustain and promote good-will and friendly feeling between us and other nations.
The consular service is more directly responsible for our trade relationships in the great centres of the world. Through our foreign service, also, Americans abroad, whether as tourists, or residents, are protected in person and in property interests. Appointments to the foreign service are made by the President with the advice of the Senate.
As we send our representatives abroad, so the countries to which our representatives go in turn send their representatives to us. In the city of Washington, one may see representatives of all the principal nations of the earth living there as ambassadors, for the purpose of promoting friendly commercial and political relationships. The secretary of state is the representative of our government through whose office the great work of the foreign service is directly carried on, and upon him devolves therefore the great affairs of state relationships with other countries. When our independence as a nation was declared in 1776, it was important to gain as quickly as possible from other nations a recognition of our independence and of our entrance into the family of nations. France was the first to give us recognition, and the first to enter into a treaty relationship. Some of the most thrilling and interesting stories of our national life are to be found in the adventurous determination of our representatives to gain the recognition of our independence as a nation from the great powers of the earth. The name of Benjamin Franklin, sent to the court of France, stands at the head of our diplomatic service; and we may read with interest of the first appearance of our diplomatic representative, John Adams, at the court of Great Britain. When we speak of court in this sense, we mean, of course, the king’s court — the place of meeting — usually the throne room. In our country, foreign representatives are received by the President at the White House, or by the secretary of state in his office apartments. Some foreign countries have built for their representatives in Washington palatial and beautiful residences, over which floats the flag of the country to which the palace or residence belongs. Our own country has already begun to make this residential provision for her representatives abroad, and in time will undoubtedly own residences in all of the principal foreign capitals.
The states of the United States are not all alike either in constitution or government, although there is a likeness at many points. For instance, each state has about the same officers, — a governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, adjutant general, superintendent of schools, etc.
Each state has its own state legislature: a senate to which state senators are elected, and a house of representatives sometimes called the assembly, to which state representatives or assemblymen are elected. Each state legislature makes laws only for its own state; therefore not all state laws are alike. Indeed, there is a great deal of individuality to each state, and rightly so. As each person has his own individuality, and as each family has its own characteristics, so each state has an individuality and characteristics peculiar to itself. The history of each state reveals its character, so also the climate, the hills, the valleys, the mountains, the plains, the lakes, the rivers, the harbors, the schools, the colleges, the towns, the villages, and the cities within its borders, all help in forming the character of a state.
The government of the town, or the village, or the city is called local government. It is government close at hand — home government. And out of the home government of each town, village, and city in a state must come, by the votes of the people at the ballot-box, the men whom they choose as their representatives, in the government of the state and the nation — for the people rule through representatives of their own choosing.
In every presidential election, the people, through the rule of the majority, as determined by the Constitution, elect their chief magistrate, the President, who becomes the “first citizen” of the nation and is entitled “Mr. President.” The people of a state by the same rule elect their chief magistrate and entitle him “His Excellency, the Governor”; he is the state’s chief or leading citizen. The people of the city by the same rule elect their chief magistrate and entitle him “His Honor, the Mayor,” the city’s leading citizen. The people of the town, in the New England States, elect their chief officers — three to five men — and entitle them the “Selectmen”; although in towns of the middle and western states, they are called “Supervisors.”
So, likewise, the people in town, village, and city by the same “rule of the majority” elect aldermen, councilmen, state senators, representatives or assemblymen, and congressmen.
And the state legislatures in turn elect, according to the Constitution of the United States, the state’s United States senators, two in number. Thus, by the rule of the majority, are all officers of town, village, and city, county and state elected, except such few as are appointed by law to offices by superior officers, heads of departments, bureaus, or districts of supervision or administration.
The ownership of property, both real and personal, and the protection of that ownership, is made possible in the organization of society — termed the government — and in the power of that government to make and enforce its laws. Real property is the kind of property which pertains to land, the ownership of which is transferred from one person to another, either by a deed recorded in the office of the register of deeds in the county court house, or else transferred by descent, or by will through the administration of the county court, usually called the probate court. This latter proceeding is in the case of the owner’s death when his property is divided by the court and distributed to the heirs — the family or other relatives according to his will; or in case no will is left the law provides for the manner of its distribution.
The record title, therefore, of all real property is to be found in the office of the register of deeds in the county court house. It makes no difference what kind of real property it is, acre property or city property, here the title of ownership is always to be found, the books of record being always open to the public. Thus when one buys a piece of real property, a home for instance, he should receive from the owner a deed and an abstract of title, which is a paper showing the title as it appears on the records, and this title when not vouched for as perfect by an abstract title company, should be passed upon by a lawyer in order that any flaw or defect therein may be made right before the deed is passed from one owner to another. In some states, however, the law does not require the owner to furnish an abstract. When the title is proved or pronounced good, the deed should at once be placed on record.
Personal property is that form of property which in general terms is stated as movable, such as animals, furniture, clothing, tools, implements, money, stocks, bonds, mortgages, etc., the transfer of which from one owner to another is not as a rule a matter of public record, although in the case of a bill of sale — sometimes made of some forms of personal property — the county record may give evidence thereof. Therefore it is, that in the matter of taxation, the tax record or assessment comes under two general heads — a tax on real property and a tax on personal property.
It is desirable to be a property owner so long as the government under which one lives protects one in his property ownership. The government must do two things: it must protect the person and his personal rights as a citizen, and it must also protect property and the rights of property ownership from enemies within, as from without. In order that this may be done and done in all fairness and justice, we elect some citizens to make laws and term them legislators. We elect others to enforce or administer the laws, and term them executives — the President, the governor, and the mayor coming under this head. We elect other citizens to enforce and interpret the laws, and we term them judges and officers of the court. In fact, it is a principle in our government that no man or set of men shall have authority in all departments of government, legislative, executive, and judicial. You will see that the Constitution of the United States is divided into these three departments of government, and the state constitutions and city charters are, as a rule, likewise divided.
You will understand that any property you may obtain will be valuable to you only in proportion as you are protected in your rights of ownership by the government, and that the government not only protects your property, it also protects your life and its interest as well as the life and interests of all other citizens.
The building and maintenance of schools and colleges, libraries, art and natural history museums, parks, playgrounds, hospitals, etc., are carried on at the expense of the government by means of taxation, inasmuch as these things are in the interests of mankind and for its upbuilding. In the city the protection of life and property is found in one or the other of these different departments: police, fire, health, street cleaning, parks, water supply, etc.; and every good citizen should lend his hand to help in every way possible the enforcement of law in each department.
In any form of government, problems are continually arising as to the rights of property and the rights of persons, and it is well for us to remember this distinction: that the end of society (and by that term we mean government) is not the protection of property, but rather the upbuilding of mankind. If we bear this in mind and act upon it as a principle in life, we shall find ourselves standing and voting on the right side of public questions. We shall also be able to mark the man in private or public life who shows by his talk or his actions that he thinks more of property rights than he does of the rights of individuals. Any business that does not benefit society, but on the other hand degrades it, whether run by an individual or individuals in a firm, company, or corporation, is a business that ought by the law to be put out of existence. This is why the business of gambling, for instance, is made unlawful; also why the government had the right to make lotteries unlawful; also why some states (for instance New York) have passed laws making book-making at race tracks unlawful. For all of these things degrade and do not upbuild mankind. It is for every one then, to apply this principle to the town, village or city in which he lives, and determine just what stand he will take as to endorsing and protecting such business interests in his community. One is likely to find in any community men who seem to care nothing for any interests other than their own. They stand for property rights because it is for their interest to do so; but for the rights of mankind, the rights of society, apparently they care nothing. Here is the distinction then between the good citizen, and the bad citizen, the desirable and “the undesirable” citizen.
In nearly every town, village, and city of any size or importance, there is at least one individual, and usually groups of individuals, working for the “betterment of society.” They are people who take an interest in the people about them and do what they can to improve the conditions of life in the community. If one were to take a survey of the whole country and make a study of the social workers — the men and the women who give freely of their time and of their money to make the world a better and happier place to live in — he would come to see that such service is a kind of service that grows out of the heart, and is the fruit of the kindly spirit which prompts the “good turn daily.”
In doing the “good turn daily,” then, one has abundant opportunity to do his part toward the social betterment of the community in which he lives. There are so many ways that one hardly knows what to write down as the most important, because all are important. It is not alone in big things, but in the little things as well, that the really great work is done.
The community — the town, the village, or the city in which one lives — has many problems to solve. The streets in the community are always interesting and one can do much in the streets to help keep them clean, attractive, and pleasing, as well as safe for the people and horses passing through. In a city where there is a large population the lives of the people are in greater danger at all times than in the country, and that is the reason why the city has to be so organized in its government that it can make special laws, or ordinances as they are called, for its own special protection against the dangers of city life. The policemen of a city, wherever stationed in the daytime or in the night time, are there to protect the lives and property of individuals, at street crossings, at public buildings, at theatres, in the parks, and on playgrounds; and it is the privilege as well as the duty of all citizens to help them in every way possible to do their work well. In the “good turn daily,” one may be able to help in more ways than one if he is on the lookout.
“A scout’s honor is to be trusted” to obey the laws and to see that they are not disobeyed by others. “A scout’s duty is to be useful and to help others. He must be prepared at any time to save life or to help injured persons.” There are often accidents in the streets — many avoidable ones — due simply to carelessness. For instance, some boys were careless and threw broken glass bottles into the street, and a passing automobile came to a standstill because of a punctured tire. The man who owned the automobile and was driving it got out and called one of the boys on the street to come over to him. He did not call this particular boy because he thought he had thrown the glass, but because he thought he was a boy who would appreciate what he wanted to say to him. He told the boy that he had just had a new tire, put on his machine and appealed to him as to whether or not he thought he had been treated right through the carelessness of the one who threw that glass into the street. The boy said no, he didn’t think he had been, and, after a little more talk, added that he would do all in his power in that neighborhood to see that such things were kept out of the street in the future. That boy was in line for the making of a first-class scout, and the man to whom he had been talking, being a good scout commissioner, had won the boy, because instead of being angry, he had been kind, courteous, and friendly — all qualifications of a good scout.
“A scout is a friend to animals.” “Yes,” said a stable keeper, “I have two good horses laid up, each injured by stepping on a nail in a board in the street. You know people are awfully careless about such things.” There are some people who never go out of their way to do helpful things, just as some people never go out of their way to know people, and for that reason are often alone and lonesome. It is the little things that count, just such little things as picking up from the street a board with a nail in it, and putting it aside — even that is a good turn.
Lincoln once said in speaking of a man whom he thought lacking in sympathy: “He is so put up by nature that a lash upon his back would hurt him, but a lash upon anybody’s else back does not hurt him.” There are many people in the world who seem to be like that man — not so many who feel that way towards mankind, possibly, but many who thoughtlessly feel and act that way toward animals. The lash on the back of an animal — the horse, the cow, the dog — hurts, and the good scout always takes the animal’s part. He is kind to animals.
In the city, people often become careless as to the necessary precautions against fire and for this reason many lives are lost. In all well-regulated school systems, each school building is properly provided with fire escapes and the children regularly disciplined in fire drills. Proper fire precautions are not yet generally required by law as they should be in great buildings, factories, or workshops where men and women are employed in large numbers. If a scout should be employed in such a place, he might make himself very serviceable in case of a fire, because having thought of it beforehand, he would know what to do — his motto being, “Be Prepared.”
One very important thing in city life is the protection of one’s health: it is essential to have good food, pure water, plenty of good, fresh air — things not always easily obtainable, but always most necessary. The scout learns through the many activities of scouting something of the market places and sources of supply for food; he has some idea as to the cost of living in his own home, and should become a good marketer himself, making himself competent to judge of the quality and prices of food. If he is wide-awake and intelligent, he knows the products of his own county as well as those of the state. He knows what food products are shipped in and sometimes finds that it would be cheaper, and more profitable as well, to produce them in his own community. An industrious scout may often make his own pocket money in this way or provide funds towards his own education.
In the Constitution of the United States is written this law: “No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States.” The purpose of this law is to defeat any attempt to elevate one citizen above another in rank of s cial or political preferment. Ours is a country free from the entanglements of social distinction such as mark one man or family from another by way of title or patent of nobility; and yet, in our country of uncrowned kings and unknighted men, we would not forget the real deeds of valor, the services rendered, or the victories won. For it was the purpose in the mind and in the heart of our fathers who framed the Constitution that each succeeding generation should rise to the duties and responsibilities of the State; that the virtues of the State should not descend or be lodged in one family, or any selected number of families. but rather should be in the keeping of all the families, in the care and keeping of all the people.
Thus do we remember our Washington and our Lincoln. They served the generation to which they belonged; they lived and passed out of their generation having served the State: and all the virtues, cares, and responsibilities of the State — the government that is — they left to the generations that should come after them. And, therefore, each generation as it comes and goes must rise or fall in proportion as it raises or lowers the citizenship standard, for each generation must prove its own worth as must each individual his own virtues.
As set forth in a letter from Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Honorary Vice-president, Boy Scouts of America:
THE OUTLOOK
287 Fourth Avenue,
New York
Office of Theodore Roosevelt
July 20th, 1911.
MY DEAR SIR:
I quite agree with Judge Lindsey that the Boy Scout Movement is of peculiar importance to the whole country. It has already done much good, and it will do far more, for it is in its essence a practical scheme through which to impart a proper standard of ethical conduct, proper standards of fair play and consideration for others, and courage and decency, to boys who have never been reached and never will be reached by the ordinary type of preaching, lay or clerical. I have been particularly interested in that extract of a letter from a scout master in the Philippines, which runs as follows:
“It might interest you to know that at a recent fire in Manila which devastated acres of ground and rendered 3,000 people homeless, that two patrols of the Manila scouts reached the fire almost with the fire companies, reported to the proper authorities and worked for hours under very trying conditions helping frightened natives into places of safety, removing valuables and other articles from houses that apparently were in the path of the flames, and performing cheerfully and efficiently all the tasks given to them by the firemen and scout master. They were complimented in the public press, and in a kind editorial about their work.
“During the recent Carnival the services of the boys were requested by the Carnival officers, and for a period of ten days they were on duty performing all manner of service in the Carnival grounds, directing strangers to hotels, and acting as guides and helpers in a hundred ways.”
What these boy scouts of the Philippines have just done, I think our boy scouts in every town and country district should train themselves to be able to do. The movement is one for efficiency and patriotism. It does not try to make soldiers of boy scouts, but to make boys who will turn out as men to be fine citizens, and who will, if their country needs them, make better soldiers for having been scouts. No one can be a good American unless he is a good citizen, and every boy ought to train himself so that as a man he will be able to do his full duty to the community. I want to see the boy scouts not merely utter fine sentiments, but act on them; not merely sing, “My Country ’Tis of Thee,” but act in a way that will give them a country to be proud of. No man is a good citizen unless he so acts as to show that he actually uses the Ten Commandments, and translates the Golden Rule into his life conduct — and I don’t mean by this in exceptional cases under spectacular circumstances, but I mean applying the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule in the ordinary affairs of every-day life. I hope the boy scouts will practise truth and square dealing, and courage and honesty, so that when as young men they begin to take a part not only in earning their own livelihood, but in governing the community, they may be able to show in practical fashion their insistence upon the great truth that the eighth and ninth commandments are directly related to every-day life, not only between men as such in their private relations, but between men and the government of which they are part. Indeed the boys even while only boys can have a very real effect upon the conduct of the grown up members of the community, for decency and square dealing are just as contagious as vice and corruption.
Every healthy boy ought to feel and will feel that in order to amount to anything, it is necessary to have a constructive, and not merely a destructive, nature; and if he can keep this feeling as he grows up he has taken his first step toward good citizenship. The man who tears down and criticises and scolds may be a good citizen, but only in a negative sense; and if he never does anything else he is apt not to be a good citizen at all. The man who counts, and the boy who counts, are the man and boy who steadily endeavor to build up, to improve, to better living conditions everywhere and all about them.
But the boy can do an immense amount right in the present, entirely aside from training himself to be a good citizen in the future; and he can only do this if he associates himself with other boys. Let the boy scouts see to it that the best use is made of the parks and playgrounds in their villages and home towns. A gang of toughs may make a playground impossible; and if the boy scouts in the neighborhood of that particular playground are fit for their work, they will show that they won’t permit any such gang of toughs to have its way. Moreover, let the boy scouts take the lead in seeing that the parks and playgrounds are turned to a really good account. I hope, by the way, that one of the prime teachings among the boy scouts will be the teaching against vandalism. Let it be a point of honor to protect birds, trees and flowers, and so to make our country more beautiful and not more ugly, because we have lived in it.
The same qualities that mean success or failure to the nation as a whole, mean success or failure in men and boys individually. The boy scouts must war against the same foes and vices that most hurt the nation; and they must try to develop the same virtues that the nation most needs. To be helpless, self-indulgent, or wasteful, will turn the boy into a mighty poor kind of a man, just as the indulgence in such vices by the men of a nation means the ruin of the nation. Let the boy stand stoutly against his enemies both from without and from within, let him show courage in confronting fearlessly one set of enemies, and in controlling and mastering the others. Any boy is worth nothing if he has not got courage, courage to stand up against the forces of evil, and courage to stand up in the right path. Let him be unselfish and gentle, as well as strong and brave. It should be a matter of pride to him that he is not afraid of anyone, and that he scorns not to be gentle and considerate to everyone, and especially to those who are weaker than he is. If he doesn’t treat his mother and sisters well, then he is a poor creature no matter what else he does; just as a man who doesn’t treat his wife well is a poor kind of citizen no matter what his other qualities may be. And, by the way, don’t ever forget to let the boy know that courtesy, politeness, and good manners must not be neglected. They are not little things, because they are used at every turn in daily life. Let the boy remember also that in addition to courage, unselfishness, and fair dealing, he must have efficiency, he must have knowledge, he must cultivate a sound body and a good mind, and train himself so that he can act with quick decision in any crisis that may arise. Mind, eye, muscle, all must be trained so that the boy can master himself, and thereby learn to master his fate. I heartily wish all good luck to the movement.
Very sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Mr. James E. West,
Executive Secretary
Boy Scouts of America,
New York City.
MY country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring.
My native country, thee
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song;
Let mortal tongues awake,
Let all that breathe partake,
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong!
Our father’s God, to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To thee we sing:
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King.
— Samuel F. Smith, 1832.
O SAY, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming;
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there!
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen thro’ the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes.
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream —
’Tis the star-spangled banner. O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
‘Mid the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country they’d leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave —
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and foul war’s desolation,
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, “In God is our trust” —
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.
— Francis Scott Key, 1814.