Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-16
A CHRISTIAN NATION.
THE CONSTITUTION so DEFINES THE
AMERICAN REPUBLIC.
Suggestions to Young Men as to Ideals Of
Citizenship and Government = Tradi-
tions Which Should BE Studied for the
Tocsnns Thou Tp,p,rf

Citizenship and Government Tradi-
tions Which Should BE Studied for the
Lessons They Impart.
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.l
The Constitution defines the American
Republic as Christian nation; all the
more Christian because it admits all men to
equal rights under its provisions, and only
demands that they shall not make any form
of religion pretext for subyerting its
fundamental character Webster and Kent,
and others experienced in the administra-
tion of our laws, have spoken of Christian
ity as part of the law of the land, in terms
stronger than I should care to adopt; eau
tiously, indeed, and always restricting their
judgments to the Scriptures as moral code,
and as the base of our social laws.
1t is enough for me to recognize the fact,
to which they and the decisions of our courts
have borne witness for more than century,
that the civilization which our laws and
constitutions were created to protect is
Christian civilization. 1t is not the old
Roman or the old Greek civilization. 1t is
not the Naturalization of the Turks or of
the Chinese; it is that which our forefathers
brought to these shores and transplanted
with themselves in this new soil; which, as
a matter of course, gave new shape to all
our institutions; which is now and ever
must be the ineradieable spirit of all that is
American; it is civilization which nothing
but Christianity could create, and which
must perish should ever (Which God forbid)
an element practically Christian pre-
vail over our historic institutions, and sup
plant them by the delusive speculations of a
revolutionizing socialism.
To Becotne Ardent Americans.
To these suggestions as to standards of
citizenship, let me venture to add some con-
siderations which the civic philosophy, in
my opinion, must condescend to impress
upon the popular mind, as means to an end,
the great end of reinforcing the national
spirit, and of making American citizens
ardently, but not warmly, Americans. That
is perhaps the best sentence in the Declara-
tion of Independence apart from those
which reach its immediate purpose, which
teaches us "a decent respect for the opinions
of mankind" Far be it from me, therefore,
to deny that intercourse with older nations
is doing much to identify us with the great
family of the world, and to Introduce
among us much that tends to our social i'm
proyement.
Yet, own that am jealous of anything
that makes us merely initiative people;
that depriyes us of self-adjusting and self
respecting faculties; that hinders the de-
yelopment of national ideas in literature,
in art, in society and manners; that robs US
of the right to appreciate what becomes our
simple republican estate, and to maintain
for ourselves what we would by no means
dictate to older nations, existing under
forms of government which differ from
ours and to which ours would be foreign
and fantastic, or, in short, impossible.
Hence I would commend generous spirit
of emulation; disposition to foster Ameri-
can learning, art, literature, and the like,
not in hostile rivalry by any means, but as
our fair and noble contribution to the COM
monwealth of humanity; as in short full
filling our mission to mankind on our own
ground, and in q way appropriate to our
own traditions
Ideals of Citizenship.
The aim and effort of the American Insti-
tute of Givics has been described as that of
maintaining high ideals Of citizenship and
government" and of eleyating the character
Of the citizen by such ''stable and forcefuI
influences" as develop character praeti-
cally equal to the claims of the Republic
upon the individual. Foremost among such
influences place our traditions" for we
have traditions most noble and inspiring;
but millions of our citizens are the sons of
the immigration which has followed the
peace of 1865, and millions besides are
themselves immigrants of recent importa-
ton, many of whom cannot read their own
language, and will never learn ours; and
yet they are made our voters, and virtually
our masters, since their votes, often sold to
the highest bidder, enable the demagogue
to turn the balance of parties, and so to
subjugate the intelligent and patriotic by
venal minority.
What is our country and our Constitution
to these classes? Even if they could be
made acquainted with the letter of the con-
stitutions, national and local, which clothe
them with franchise SO perilous to their
spirit, yet nobody can comprehend these
constitutions who is ignorant of the tradi-
tions out of which they grew; traditions of
o thousand years in the homes of their fore
fathers, and of three centuries on American
soil; traditions consecrated, in part, as the
common law, and in part known as the free
and yet law-loying spirit of the people that
settled the colonies and created the States.
Where Traditions Are to Be Found.
Now, no nation can be great that has no
recognized traditions, dear to the whole
population and enabling them at critical
moment to act with one will and one heart.
Where then is the civic philosopher to find
the traditions by which he wohld educate
his countrymen to the proportions of
great nation? They exist; schools delight
in them; jurists and statesmen cite them in
their arguments and judgments; but-where
shall the people find them? How shall the
young be imbued with their principles ? Is
it not our duty to encourage noble Ameri-
canism in art, in literature, in prose and in
song?
For the young, beginnings have been
made in the romance as well as in the his
toric writings of Cooper and of Irving
names never to be mentioned without honor;
and with these, let me join the name of
Kennedy, whose romances illustrate the
history and manners of the South, of Vir-
ginia and Carolina, and of past that i'm
parts charm to Southern society still,
though it is past that is never to return. |
And let nobody fear that familiarity with |
such authors may tend to sectional divisions;
on the contrary, it animates every natural |
emotion of brotherhood, when the North |
studies the, South, and when the South re- |
turns the compliment, each claiming the |
other, and making practical the great |
thought which is in the Constitution, that |
the citizen of one State is citizen of ALL