America for Americans! | Page 6

toil.
VII. That Christianity, in its ethics and charities, is the religion of this
land.
It was a bold venture for the fathers of this Republic to declare personal
liberty foremost, without regard to birth or education or civilization.
This has elevated our nation above all nations. It was sublime courage
for those grand men to declare that our civil and political rights are not
grants from superiors to inferiors, but that they flow out of the order
and the constitution of nature. It is this, my countrymen, that

differentiates us, that distinguishes us from Englishmen, and
Frenchmen, and Russians. What are the two great declarations of which
England is proud? Take the Magna Charta Libertatum. The historians
say that this is the bulwark of English freedom. Yes, Englishmen, you
do right to so esteem it. But then you should remember that the Magna
Charta Libertatum was a concession from King John--a concession
from a superior to inferiors, and the men who wrung that concession
from that English king did not esteem themselves his equals, but
permitted themselves to be treated as inferiors. Then take what is
known in English parliamentary history as A Petition of Rights. It
secured a concession from King Charles I--a superior to inferiors. But
our fathers said we are the superiors. [Applause.] We recognize no
superior but God; we declare a government of the people, by the people,
and for the people. [Applause.] We ask not for a Magna Charta
Libertatum. We offer no petition of rights. Jefferson made our
declaration of rights and the fathers signed it, saying, We are born free
and equal, created in the image of God; our political rights are
inalienable, inseparable from our birth. [Applause.] That declaration
turned the corner of political history. It astounded all Europe. It sent a
chill through royal blood. It caused a paleness to come over kings and
queens; yet it was a declaration which oncoming generations approved,
and oncoming centuries will applaud, because born of truth, justice and
liberty.
The naturalized American must renounce all allegiance to foreign
prince or potentate or government; in so doing he must reject the
assumed superiority of any human grantor and assert the superiority of
the individual citizen in whom inhere these rights. [Applause.]
The fathers ventured the assertion that a government of the people and
by the people and for the people should be supported, not by physical
force, but by a moral power, an astounding fact in the national history.
The power that conquered in the war for independence was a moral
force. It was the spirit of '76. It was the spirit of '76 that inspired
Warren to say: "Put me where the battle is hottest." It was the spirit of
'76 that moved Putnam to shout out on the eve of battle: "Powder!
powder! Ye gods, give us powder!" It was the spirit of '76 that caused

the New Jersey dominie, when the army was destitute of wadding, to
rush to the church and, getting a copy of Watts's psalms, shout out:
"There, boys, put Watts into them." It was the spirit of '76 that led
Washington to consecrate himself, his time, his wealth, and the
grandest men in the country to consecrate themselves for the
accomplishment of the grandest of facts. The Continental Army was an
army of plowmen and artisans, poorly armed and poorly clothed. Baron
Steuben, when he came to this country with Lafayette to organize our
army, declared that the only regularity that he saw was, that the short
men were put in front and the tall men put behind, and old Putnam gave
him this explanation, that Americans didn't care about their heads; they
only cared about their legs; shelter their legs and they would fight
forever. Baron Steuben attempted to organize those troops, but lost his
temper and swore at them in three languages at the same time.
[Laughter.] But the spirit of '76 led to history.
We maintain our free institutions by moral force. Our twenty thousand
soldiers scattered here and there wherever they can find an Indian to
shoot is hardly a respectable police force. [Laughter.] The founders of
this Republic knew that freemen are soldiers in the disguise of citizens.
Let the tocsin of war be founded; let a foreign foe invade our shores; let
an insurrectionary body arise in our midst, and a million of freemen,
armed to the teeth, will "Rally round the flag, boys, rally once again."
[Vociferous applause.] It is difficult for immigrants coming to this
country to appreciate this fact. They pass through the land and see no
gens d'armes, no standing armies, and rarely a policeman. [Laughter.]
The true American stands forever on duty, a soldier of the Republic in
the disguise of a citizen, the custodian of the Republic's