American Education 
 
 and 
 
 American Citizenship 
 
 An address delivered before the Associated Alumni 
 of the University of Rochester by 
 
 WILLIAM CAREY MOREY, D. C. I. 
 
 JUNE 13, 1910 
 
American Education and Ameri- 
 can Citizenship 
 
 ORATION BEFORE THE ALUMNI 
 
 by 
 
 WILLIAM CAREY MOREY, D.C.L. 
 
 Watson Professor of Political Science 
 
 There was a time during the civil war when for lack of 
 volunteers, it became necessary for the government to draft 
 men into the service of the country. As I happened to be 
 a volunteer at that time, I was never able to enter fully 
 into the consciousness of the man who- was drawn into the 
 service against his own will. But I have sometimes thought 
 that if such an one should ever fail in the performance 
 of his duty, he might perhaps console himself with the re- 
 flection that not he, but the government, should be held 
 responsible for his failure. I feel myself tonight somewhat 
 in the position of a drafted man ; for the invitation of your 
 committee was so pressing, not to say imperative, that I 
 regarded it as a sort of command which could not be ig- 
 nored. And so if my effort should not be deemed high- 
 ly successful, I shall try to console myself with the belief 
 that your committee should be held liable for my short- 
 coming. It is but just to myself to say further that your 
 committee not only drafted me into the service, but also 
 suggested the subject upon which I was to speak. If they 
 had only gone a step farther and assumed the pleasant duty 
 of preparing my discourse, and also of appointing one of 
 their number to deliver it, I should have enjoyed the bliss- 
 
 1 
 
fill satisfaction of total irresponsibility. But while I am 
 quite willing to throw upon them all the responsibility 
 which is justly their due, I should be very loth to have them 
 take from me the sense of honor that I feel in being chosen 
 to speak to you on this occasion. When I realize that the 
 large majority of you are those whom I have already met 
 in the class-room, that the greater part of my life has been 
 spent with some of you, that my best thoughts have been 
 inspired by your presence, that you are the friends whose 
 respect and affection I most cherish, I am inclined to thank 
 your seemingly imperious committee for giving me the op- 
 portunity to speak to you once more as your teacher — and 
 perhaps still as your counsellor. 
 
 There is something inspiring to the teacher who is be- 
 ginning to feel however lightly the weight of years, to see 
 those who have been his pupils actively engaged in the 
 practical affairs of life, to see them taking an honorable and 
 influential position among their fellows and reaping the 
 merited rewards of faithful service. It is only through the 
 character and work of his pupils that the teacher can hope 
 to attain success. He himself is one whose place is, for the 
 most part, behind the scenes ; while it is their function to 
 play the active parts upon the stage of life. But though 
 unseen, he is yet a sharer of their successes, and hears with 
 equal satisfaction the applause which they receive from the 
 world. Though remaining in the professorial chair, he fol- 
 lows them anxiously in the paths they have chosen ; he suf- 
 fers when they fail, and rejoices when they succeed ; and 
 he often wonders whether the standard which they attained 
 in the class-room will be maintained in the larger sphere of 
 industrial and professional life. But his greatest anxiety 
 is to know, when they have gone forth into the world, wheth- 
 er they will yield to the temptations which often beset men 
 of power and influence; or whether, on the other hand, 
 
 2 
 
 'S<M': 
 
they will fulfill the high duties which rest upon them as 
 educated men, — whether they will rise above the selfish 
 instincts of human nature and become beneficent members 
 of society and the state. The honor of a university rests 
 upon the honorable work of those whom it has once fostered. 
 The greatest achievement of any institution of learning is 
 to make of a man a valuable asset to society; and it has 
 been well said that "a. man's value is measured in terms of 
 service to his fellow men." It is with a sense of pride that 
 I join with my colleagues to-night in congratulating you 
 upon the records you have made, and are still making in 
 the cause of truth and humanity. No words of mine can 
 express the debt which we owe to you. Your lives are our 
 richest possession; and we shall ever claim the right to 
 point to you as worthy citizens of our great Republic, and 
 as an evidence that the work of our University has not been 
 in vain. 
 
 The subject which has been suggested to me as a suit- 
 able theme for this hour's discussion is, American Educa- 
 tion and American Citizenship. But as I was not told exact- 
 ly how this subject should be treated, it is possible that I 
 may not discuss it precisely in the way it was expected. To 
 give some unity, however, to what I have to say I have 
 selected as a sort of text, or perhaps rather the goal which 
 I wish to keep in view, these words of Baron von Hum- 
 boldt: "Whatever we wish to see introduced into the life 
 of a nation must first be introduced into its schools." The 
 distinguished author of this proposition no doubt meant by 
 "schools" all educational institutions, whether higher or 
 lower; and would hence have us believe that a nation's 
 growth and a nation's character depend to a large extent 
 upon the kind of education it gives to its citizens. 
 
 This word "education," which we so often use and which 
 is made the subject of many learned discussions, is indeed 
 
 3 
 
a word of extensive and perhaps ambiguous meaning. It 
 may refer to the simple training of a child in correct deport- 
 ment, in habits of obedience, and in the primary use of its 
 faculties. It may refer to the technical instruction which 
 is given to an apprentice to prepare him to do the work 
 of a skilled mechanic. It may refer to the various means 
 which are employed to develop in one the ability to do the 
 professional work of an architect, a lawyer, a teacher, a 
 physician, a clergyman, or a diplomat. Or it may refer, 
 in a still broader way, to the general acquisition of knowl- 
 edge and discipline of mind whereby one may enter intel- 
 ligently upon any field of human activity. But however 
 we may define it and whatever may be its special phases, it 
 seems quite evident that all education is but a means to 
 an end, and that that end has some bearing upon human life. 
 And it also seems quite clear that the value and efficiency 
 of education depend upon the extent to which it is adjusted 
 and adapted to its purpose, the final result which it seeks 
 to accomplish. If we lose sight of its ultimate purpose, 
 its telic principle, all our pedagogical theories will soon 
 become "stale and unprofitable ;" and our elaborate systems 
 and petty details of method will soon descend to the level 
 of perfunctory routine and fruitless effort. The undue 
 emphasis which is sometimes laid upon uniform and stereo- 
 typed methods of instruction, upon dogmatic rules of pro- 
 cedure, with little reference to their ultimate bearing upon 
 life, tend to make of the school a mere mechanism, and of 
 the teacher a mere automaton. We should, therefore, aban- 
 don the idea that a blind conformity to some prescribed 
 and rigid set of methods, has in itself any special educa- 
 tional value. Methods may or may not be valuable. Their 
 value depends upon their relative efficiency in attaining 
 the end to be accomplished. 
 
 A far greater question then than that concerning educa- 
 
 4 
 
tional methods and processes, is that concerning educational 
 aims and purposes. It may be conceded that these aims and 
 purposes should have some relation to human life. But 
 there may not be an entire concurrence of opinion as to 
 what are the special needs of human life for which the 
 schools may afford a preparation. The views that are most 
 generally held as to the relation of education to life, may per- 
 haps be reduced to two general theories, which may be called 
 the ''vocational" and the "cultural" theory. The first, or 
 the vocational, theory holds that the end of education should 
 be the preparation of every person for the special work in 
 life which he is destined to pursue. The second, or cultural, 
 theory holds that the purpose of education should be to 
 broaden the intellect by the acquisition of knowledge, and 
 to discipline the mind by systematic habits of thought, and 
 thus to fit a person for any sphere of life — in other words, 
 to develop a symmetrical and efficient manhood. It would 
 lead me too far from my main purpose to discuss these 
 apparently opposing theories. But the mere mention of 
 them is sufficient to show that, however antagonistic they 
 may appear, they both have in view the fact that every per- 
 son has some function to perform, some duties to fulfill, 
 as a living human being. 
 
 It may not be out of place, however, for me to say in 
 passing that perhaps a more comprehensive theory than 
 either of those mentioned, is that which would combine the 
 best features of them both. Is it not possible for an educa- 
 tion to be based primarily upon the "cultural" idea, and yet 
 not to lose sight of the "vocational" purposes of the in- 
 dividual ? It is probably true that every one, or nearly every 
 one, of the so-called cultural studies furnishes the prin- 
 ciples upon which some vocation is based. For example, 
 the one who has chosen medicine for his calling may find 
 the principles which underlie his practice in the study of 
 
 5 
 
biology, of physiology and of chemistry. He who desires to 
 become a teacher may learn from philosophy, from psychol- 
 ogy, and from logic, the laws which govern the operations 
 and development of the human mind. And the lawyer may 
 find an important aid in his professional life from the study 
 of history and general jurisprudence. Indeed, it may be 
 questioned whether any science is completely taught until 
 not only its general principles, but its applications and bene- 
 ficial relations to human life, are made intelligible. On this 
 account applied science may become a legitimate part of a 
 liberal education ; and I am happy to say that this idea is al- 
 ready becoming a feature of the University of Rochester. 
 As a tangible evidence of the progress of this idea, I point 
 to the new building now in the process of erection upon our 
 campus, for which we are largely indebted to the personal 
 interest and zeal of him who is this year president of our 
 Associated Alumni. And I may also be permitted to say 
 that for the introduction of this larger and more compre- 
 hensive theory, which recognizes the close relation between 
 culture and vocation, we are glad to acknowledge our in- 
 debtedness to him who now occupies and fills the presidential 
 chair of our University. 
 
 The statements I have already made are intended simply 
 to emphasize what perhaps may need no special emphasis — 
 that education cannot, in any proper sense, be regarded as 
 an end in itself, but that its value and efficiency depend up- 
 on an appreciation of the dignity and demands of human 
 life. But may it not be pertinent to go a step farther and 
 ask. What is that conception of life which should be kept 
 in view in our educational systems? What, in short, is the 
 real significance of human life — what is life for? One of 
 the greatest achievements of modern science is generally 
 conceded to be the discovery of the law of evolution. One 
 of the factors of this law relates to the theory of life — 
 
 6 
 
wherein life is regarded as a universal struggle for exist- 
 ence. As this theory is generally interpreted, those individ- 
 uals which are best fitted by virtue of superior strength or 
 intelligence, survive; while the weak and less intelligent go 
 to the wall. Life is looked upon as a battle for survivor- 
 ship and supremacy. And this is supposed to apply not 
 only to the lower animals, but to man as well ; and is often 
 emphasized as a stimulant to education. Success in life 
 is looked upon as a victory in the battle of life. To achieve 
 success one must possess the power and the intelligence 
 necessary to triumph over others. If he has not received 
 by nature the requisite amount of strength and skill, he 
 must cultivate and develop it by artificial means. In this 
 way he may obtain an advantage in the inevitable struggle ; 
 in this way he may acquire personal power and supremacy, 
 and thus reduce others to a relative condition of subordina- 
 tion. It is by his superior knowledge and mental discipline 
 obtained by education, that he may acquire those qualities 
 which will enable him to outwit his fellow men, and will 
 ensure his preeminence in the world and hence his success 
 in life. This is the egoistic theory of life and education— 
 a theory which is based upon the hypothesis that the life 
 of man, like the life of the brute, is a competitive struggle 
 for existence and individual supremacy. So far as this 
 theory is accepted and adopted as a principle of action, it 
 begets the spirit of self-aggrandizement, of personal ambi- 
 tion, of excessive individualism, of antagonism of man 
 against man. It ignores the social instincts of human na- 
 ture, and enthrones selfishness as the ruling principle of 
 human conduct. It perverts and poisons the spirit of in- 
 dustrial enterprise, and leads to the exploitation of the 
 weak by the strong. It infects and corrupts the political 
 life of the nation, by debasing its legitimate institutions 
 for the advancement of selfish ends — making of the ballot 
 
an instrument of bribery, of parties the means of acquiring 
 personal power and mastery, and of our legislative halls a 
 field for individual and corporate plunder. 
 
 But some one may say, However much you may deplore 
 these results, do not the facts of life really justify this 
 theory of life ? Is it not true, as a mere matter of observa- 
 tion, that wherever we see human life we there see con- 
 flict? Does not the history of the world in fact afford a 
 record of such conflicts and struggles ? Yes, this is no doubt 
 perfectly true. It is no doubt true that the history of hu- 
 man society affords innumerable examples of this struggle 
 of man against man — brother against brother, family 
 against family, class against class, creed against creed, and 
 nation against nation. It is no doubt true that human self- 
 ishness has been, as a matter of fact, a powerful incentive 
 in determining human relations and human actions. But 
 who will have the presumption to claim that selfishness has 
 been the only or the highest motive in human life? It is 
 a very superficial analysis of human history that finds in 
 its records nothing but wars and rumors of war. No one 
 is more thoroughly convinced than the student of history 
 that the progress of the world has been a gradual triumph 
 of the social over the selfish instincts of men — that altruism 
 rather than egoism has been the most decisive incentive in 
 the promotion of human welfare and in the uplifting of the 
 race. The consciousness of common interests, the willing- 
 ness to give mutual support, the growing sense of brother- 
 hood — these are evidences that in the higher stages of hu- 
 man life men regard themselves as members one of another, 
 that they are born to help and not to antagonize one another. 
 Every step in the expansion of society, every advance in 
 the growth of a higher political organization is prompted, 
 for the most part, by the social instincts of men and not by 
 their selfish propensities. If we are then called upon to ap- 
 
 8 
 
peal to the facts of life in order to justify a theory of life, 
 we may be obliged to modify the meaning which is some- 
 times attached to the "struggle for existence." While hu- 
 man life may no doubt be looked upon as a struggle, it is 
 not, in the highest sense, a competitive struggle of man 
 against man, but a cooperative struggle of men united with 
 men to promote the highest good of all — a common warfare 
 against all the destructive forces which tend to impede hu- 
 man progress and to diminish human welfare. We may 
 thus see that the great practical end of life is not supremacy 
 but service. We may thus see that man has a collective as 
 well as an individual life, that all that is highest and most 
 enduring in his nature can be seen only when he is regarded 
 as a fraction of that great integer Humanity. 
 
 This then is the conception of life which we should keep 
 in view when we are preparing for the duties of life and 
 the responsibilities of citizenship — not that it is a struggle 
 against our fellow men that we may win a triumph by 
 their defeat — not a disregard of the rights of others that we 
 may achieve success — not the extortion of the wealth and 
 the labor of others that we may obtain large possessions — 
 not the perversion of the laws and institutions of our country 
 that we may obtain power and preeminence. The life of a 
 nation is the life of its citizens. The body cannot be more 
 healthy than its members. If we would see our nation 
 united and strong, we must cultivate in ourselves the spirit 
 of fraternity, and not of enmity — the conviction that we all 
 constitute one body with common interests, with a common 
 welfare and a common destiny. If we would see our na- 
 tion the embodiment of justice and honor, justice and honor 
 must first be incarnated in the life of the people. If we 
 would see our country saved from the perils incident to 
 democrary, we must guard with jealousy the principles of 
 justice and equal rights, and keep pure and sensitive the 
 popular conscience, and unfettered and free the expression 
 
 9 
 
of the popular will. The higher altruistic conception which 
 we have attached to human life in general, must also be ap- 
 plied to the life of the nation, and must in fact determine 
 the conditions of good citizenship. It must, therefore, be- 
 come a factor in the making of good citizens and hence an 
 element in our systems of education. That a national sys- 
 tem of education may possess its highest efficiency, it must 
 not be based upon the idea that it is the cultivation of the 
 individual solely for the sake of the individual, but that it 
 is the development of manhood for the sake of mankind — 
 that every accession of power and intelligence which one 
 may acquire belongs, in some degree, to his fellow men — 
 to the state and the nation of which he is a part. 
 
 It is no doubt less difficult to formulate a general prin- 
 ciple like that which we have tried to express, than to apply 
 it to actual conditions and needs. But a general principle, 
 however comprehensive or true, can have little educational 
 value unless it can be utilized and applied to educational 
 methods. We may admit that, in theory, all education 
 should have some bearing upon life, that the highest con- 
 ception of life must have reference not simply to the bene- 
 fit of the individual but to the promotion of the common 
 weal, and also that this altruistic conception of life is the 
 basis and condition of good citizenship. But it is proper 
 to ask, as a practical question. How can this higher concep- 
 tion of life which should enter into the making of good citi- 
 zens, be introduced as an effective element in our educa- 
 tional system ? How, for example, can the student of mathe- 
 matics, of physics, of astronomy, of geology, of biology, of 
 literature and of history be imbued with the idea that these 
 studies have any relation to human interests, or have any 
 bearing upon the community in which he lives, or upon the 
 nation of which he is a part. He is too often led to believe 
 that the pursuit of any branch of science or department of 
 
 10 
 
literature or period of history, is mainly to add to his gen- 
 eral knowledge, to his storehouse of accumulated facts. 
 But is it not possible for him to be made to realize that every 
 study in an academic curriculum has some relation to human 
 interests? It is often supposed that history or literature 
 affords the only means which may be used to stimulate the 
 social instincts and to awaken an interest in human affairs. 
 But the study of every science affords a similar means. Ev- 
 ery progressive step in the development of science marks a 
 stage in the progressive development of mankind, and hence 
 has an important bearing upon human life. It cannot be de- 
 nied, for example, that biology has been a powerful agency 
 in the amelioration of the race, by revealing the laws of life 
 and health, and by giving men a greater control over pes- 
 tilences and diseases in general. Geology has been utilized 
 by revealing the mineral products of the earth, and increas- 
 ing the economic resources of man. Astronomy has bene- 
 fited mankind, by teaching the laws of the universe and ban- 
 ishing superstition from the minds of men. The laws of 
 physics, of mechanics, and of chemistry have been used as 
 levers by which human existence has been raised to a high- 
 er plane. Even a mathematical formula, however abstract 
 it may appear in its bare statement, may be shown to have 
 had, either directly or indirectly, a practical utility in the 
 solution of problems which have some relation to human 
 welfare. And so every academic study may be given a 
 higher educational significance if viewed in its relation to 
 man's individual and social well-being. If measured by the 
 standard of educational efficiency, the value of an academic 
 curriculum is due not so much to the amount of information 
 it imparts as to the degree of intelligence it develops — not 
 so much to the acquisition of knowledge as to the gaining 
 of wisdom — not so much to the massing of facts for the 
 edification of the individual, as to the mastery of those prin- 
 
 11 
 
ciples which have some relation to the well-being of man- 
 kind. 
 
 But it is not merely the human significance which may be 
 attached to the various studies of an academic curriculum 
 that I wish especially to emphasize, but the importance of 
 maintaining those high ideals of American life which should 
 form the distinctive features of American citizenship. And 
 I believe that these ideals, if properly interpreted, will be 
 found to be in harmony with that higher altruistic concep- 
 tion of life which we have already considered. The true 
 ideals of a nation are the incentives which have stimulated 
 its development and determined its place and influence in 
 the world's progress. Every great people which holds a 
 place in human history must be estimated by its mission — 
 by its contributions to the progress of the world. If it has 
 had no mission in the world, if it has contributed nothing to 
 human progress, it is worthy only to be forgotten. But no 
 lapse of time, no debris of the centuries, can erase from the 
 memory of men the name of that people which has contrib- 
 uted something toward raising mankind from a lower to a 
 higher plane of existence. The traveler looks with sorrow- 
 ful eyes upon the broken columns of the Parthenon, but the 
 ideals which inspired the art of Phidias, the plays of Soph- 
 ocles, the philosophy of Plato, are still motives in the in- 
 tellectual life of today. That which made Rome great is not 
 seen in the crumbling walls of the Colosseum or in the de- 
 nuded pavements of the Forum, but in the ideas of law and 
 civil justice which have become an enduring factor in the 
 world's jurisprudence. We remember Italy for the new 
 birth which she gave to Europe; Spain and Portugal for 
 the new world which they gave to the old ; Germany for 
 the revolt against mediaeval superstition and ecclesiastical 
 tyranny; France for intellectual enlightenment; and Eng- 
 land for her contributions to modern constitutional and rep- 
 resentative government. 
 
 12 
 
Is it possible that America alone has had no mission to 
 perform, has made no contributions to the world's advance- 
 ment, has no worthy ideals of social and political life to in- 
 spire the minds of her people ? In the restless activity of 
 the present day and the mental distractions which attend 
 commercial enterprise, we may have lost sight of the primi- 
 tive and essential motives which have inspired the formation 
 and development of our Republic; and hence do not fully 
 appreciate those ideals of our national life which have fur- 
 nished the incentive to all that is most exalted in the Amer- 
 ican character. It has been said by a recent English writer 
 that the American people have come to form a new race. 
 However the professed ethnologist might dissent from this 
 conclusion, it is yet certain that the American people occupy 
 a peculiar and distinctive position among the nations of the 
 world. If they, indeed, hold such a unique position as to 
 entitle them to be called a new race, or a new people in any 
 sense, it is due not so much to their ethnic amalgamation, 
 as to certain ideas which have distinguished them in the 
 past, and which must be maintained to distinguish them in 
 the future. These ideas have been, in fact, new contribu- 
 tions to the modern world. They distinguish the American 
 character and the American system ; they have formed the 
 most powerful incentives to our country's growth ; they have 
 also furnished an inspiration to other peoples, and have in- 
 fluenced the political progress of nearly every other nation ; 
 and they should still be cherished as the stimulating ideals 
 of our American life, and guarded and maintained by every 
 American citizen. 
 
 We need hardly to be reminded that the modern world is 
 indebted first of all to the American republic for the realiza- 
 tion of the idea of democracy. When our Pilgrim fathers 
 landed on the barren coast of New England, Europe was a 
 congeries of monarchial states. The ideas of equal rights 
 
 13 
 
and political liberty which had floated before the minds of 
 advanced thinkers, became the ideals of the American peo- 
 ple. In the process of time these ideals became wrought in- 
 to a new political system, of which we are alike the heirs 
 and the guardians. This system has withstood the test of 
 years, and we are now living to enjoy its blessings. But do 
 we fully realize all that is involved in a democratic state? 
 Do we realize that a true democracy is based upon the al- 
 truistic conception of life — that the interests of one are the 
 interests of all ? Democracy is the name for equal rights, 
 equal obligations and equal opportunities. It does not exalt 
 the few at the expense of the many. It calls for fair play 
 and honest dealing. It is based upon justice between man 
 and man, and not upon a competitive struggle for exist- 
 ence and supremacy. It offers no encouragement to that 
 extreme and excessive individualism which ignores the 
 interests of the community and the well-being of society at 
 . large. 
 
 But we should also notice, on the other hand, that democ- 
 racy as a social and political system does not underestimate 
 the true value of the individual man. It would protect the 
 individual not only against the encroachment of other men, 
 but also against an undue interference on the part of the 
 government. It assumes that the state is an organized body 
 of individuals, with common needs and interests ; it also 
 assumes that every man is a constituent and integral mem- 
 ber of society, with personal rights as well as social duties. 
 It therefore recognizes as coordinate the two functions of 
 government — the one to protect the personal rights of the 
 individual, the other to provide for the general welfare of 
 society — and demands that neither shall be sacrificed at the 
 expense of the other. I believe, therefore, that to maintain 
 the true spirit of our American democracy we should guard 
 against the extremes both of excessive individualism, on 
 
 14 
 
the one hand, and of unqualified sociaHsm, on the other; 
 and should recognize the correlative importance of individ- 
 ual and social interests. In order to maintain the altruistic 
 spirit of democracy it is not necessary to ignore the dignity 
 and the inalienable rights of the individual man. In fact, 
 it is the man who has the highest respect for himself and 
 the clearest consciousness of his own rights, that can have 
 the sincerest respect for others, and the most intelligent 
 estimate of the rights of his fellows. The disposition to 
 grant to other men all that we claim for ourselves, is the 
 true spirit of altruism and the real basis of democratic jus- 
 tice. 
 
 It is the failure to recognize this perfect correlation of 
 rights and duties, that engenders social, political and in- 
 dustrial strife, and promotes that dangerous antagonism of 
 interests which imperils our democratic system. It is this 
 selfish scramble for supremacy, this passion to triumph even 
 by trampling upon the rights and interests of others, that 
 tends to destroy the universal sense of justice, and to put 
 a premium upon adroitness and deceit and the unprincipled 
 arts of the trickster. We cannot overestimate the import- 
 ance of intelligence in a democratic state ; but if intelligence 
 be not tempered with justice, or the disposition to render 
 to every one his due, it may prove to be a dangerous posses- 
 sion. Believe me when I say that the perils of our democ- 
 racy are due not so much to the ignorance of the masses, 
 as to the unscrupulous methods of those who use their 
 superior power and skill to deceive and manipulate the 
 masses for their own selfish ends. We should be thorough- 
 ly convinced that the security of our Republic rests not only 
 upon the intelligence of the masses of the people, but upon 
 the unperverted conscience of every citizen. It has been 
 well said that the distinguishing characteristic of the Amer- 
 ican Republic is the embodiment of the spirit of faith in 
 
 15 
 
man, hope for man, and good will toward man. It is, in- 
 deed, this spirit of faith and hope and good will, this high 
 estimate which should be placed upon the dignity and the 
 rights of man, both in his individual and in his collective 
 life, that should be cherished as one of the high ideals of 
 American citizenship, and should be exalted as a ruling prin- 
 ciple in the minds of those who are preparing to assume, in 
 full measure, its inestimable rights and responsible duties. 
 
 Closely allied to the idea of democracy as a contribu- 
 tion of America to the modern world, is the idea of relig- 
 ious liberty — or the right of a man to think and to worship 
 as his own conscience may dictate. I have often thought 
 that the most pitiful chapters in human history are those 
 that record the conflict of creeds — the struggle of man 
 against man for the supremacy of the faith of some, by the 
 destruction of the faith of others. We in our day can have 
 little conception of the horrors of that sanguinary and in- 
 human conflict. We are so fortunate as not to be able to 
 realize the agony of a tortured soul, compelled to surren- 
 der a sacred belief or to face the terror of a martyr's doom. 
 We shrink from the pages that recount the cruel deeds of 
 the elder Simon de Montfort in the Albigensian crusade, 
 and the despicable policy of Philip II in his efforts to stran- 
 gle the religion of the Netherlands. In that age of political 
 and ecclesiastical tyranny we behold not only the intolerance 
 of sects, but the unholy alliance of Church and State. We 
 witness the fact that it was the despotic governments of 
 Europe that became the most powerful instruments of re- 
 ligious oppression and persecution. 
 
 We are now happily living in another age ; and we should 
 remember that it was the land that gave birth to the spirit 
 of political liberty that also nourished the spirit of relig- 
 ious freedom. With all due credit to "brave little Holland" 
 for opening her doors to the religious refugees from France 
 
 16 
 
and other lands, it was in America that full liberty of con- 
 science first became recognized as an essential principle in a 
 democratic state. In spite of its slow growth in some of the 
 colonies, it received its fullest expression in the constitu- 
 tions of the several states and in that of the Federal gov- 
 ernment. It was in this land of the free that religion be- 
 came purified of its old time animosities and imbued with a 
 higher altruistic spirit. It was here that the religious rights 
 and duties of men were freed from political control, and the 
 spirit of human brotherhood was made more sacred. The 
 principle of religious freedom is thus a choice inheritance 
 which we have received from our fathers and we should 
 guard it as one of the ideals of our American life. We 
 should, therefore, respect a man's right to his own con- 
 scientious beliefs as we respect his right to his own person 
 and property. While we approve of every rational appeal 
 to the religious motives of men, we should frown upon every 
 form of religious intolerance. We should condemn every 
 effort to mix the affairs of the state with the affairs of any 
 church. In the eyes of a democratic state, every religion 
 and every creed — that of the Jew and the Gentile, the Prot- 
 estant and the Catholic, the conformist and the nonconform- 
 ist — stand upon a plane of perfect equality, and should exist 
 side by side as fraternal allies and not as hostile foes. And 
 so every attempt to incite an antagonism of religious sects 
 for political purposes should be branded, as an encroach- 
 ment upon our free institutions. 
 
 Another important contribution of the American people 
 to the political progress of the world, which should not be 
 forgotten but which I have scarcely time to notice, is the 
 idea of a written constitution. Previous to the year 1776 
 a written constitution in the proper sense of that term, as 
 a supreme national law, expressed in a single document, 
 defining the form and the functions of government, and 
 
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guaranteeing the liberty of the subject against government- 
 al encroachment, did not exist. Previous to that year the 
 forms of national government were everywhere based upon 
 traditional customs; and the rights of the subject, so far as 
 these rights were protected at all, were guaranteed only by 
 fragmentary statutes or unwritten precedents. It was the 
 American Revolution that gave birth to the written constitu- 
 tions of the American states — the germs of which already 
 existed in the charters of the American colonies, and the full 
 development of which was reached in the Federal Constitu- 
 tion of the American Republic. This idea of a written con- 
 stitution, as the basis of government and the guarantee of 
 liberty, has now been accepted by nearly all the countries 
 of Europe, and is even being adopted by the reviving nations 
 of the Orient. The advantage of a written constitution 
 consists in the fact that it gives a certain stability to political 
 institutions, by presenting a barrier against the exercise of 
 arbitrary power. It also renders more definite and secure 
 the political and civil rights of the citizen, by furnishing an 
 ultimate basis for judicial decisions. It furthermore tends 
 to foster the sense of democratic equality, by establishing a 
 law which binds alike the humblest subject who toils in the 
 workshop and the highest magistrate who presides at the 
 head of the nation. The American constitution has perhaps 
 done more than anything else to develop in the American 
 mind a high respect for law, and a patriotic devotion to 
 American institutions. Unrestrained liberty and a disregard 
 for law are the harbingers of anarchy, and have no place in 
 the American system. The spirit of lawlessness, in what- 
 ever form it may present itself, should therefore meet with 
 the condemnation of every true American. It is only by 
 limiting and equalizing liberty by maintaining the principles 
 of justice under the supreme authority of a constitutional 
 law, that the American idea of government can be fully 
 realized. 
 
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My time and your patience are already exhausted, and 
 I can detain you only for a moment to mention what I regard 
 as one of the highest and most important contributions of 
 America to modern statesmanship — a contribution which has 
 already been utilized by other countries and may in the 
 future prove an inestimable benefit to the world at large — 
 I mean the idea of federalism. The gradual development of 
 a true federal state is one of the most distinctive features 
 of our political history. There are two general methods in 
 which a large state may be developed from smaller states — 
 the one is by conquest, the other by federation. In the one 
 method, we see a competitive struggle between states for 
 supremacy, which results in the victory of one and the sub- 
 jection of others. In the other method, we see the recogni- 
 tion of equal rights among states, and their voluntary union 
 into a larger political society, in which the interests of one 
 are regarded as the interests of all. Conquest is the result 
 of what might be called an exaggerated form of political 
 egoism. Federation is the outgrowth of an exalted phase 
 of political altruism ; it is, in fact, the principle of democracy 
 applied to a group of states. All the great states of an- 
 tiquity — Assyria, Persia, the Empire of Alexander, and the 
 Roman Empire, — and until recently all the great states of 
 mediaeval and modern Europe, — the empire of Charle- 
 magne, the old German Empire, Spain, France, Great 
 Britain, and Russia, — all obtained their preeminent position 
 through conquest, or the struggle for supremacy. The 
 American Republic is the first great nation in the world's 
 history to develop a wide territorial dominion by the adop- 
 tion of the federative principle. It is here that we see the 
 first successful and permanent union of free and independent 
 states, upon the basis of political equality, and under a 
 common sovereignty in which all have an equitable share. 
 The maintenance of the common authority of the nation in 
 
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all those matters which concern the common interests of the 
 nation, and the protection of the authority of every state in 
 all those matters which concern itself alone, — this is the ideal 
 of American federalism. To understand fully and to uphold 
 faithfully the essential features of this political system 
 should be the duty and the ideal of every patriotic citizen. 
 But if the American citizen appreciates, in its largest 
 sense, the altruistic conception of life, he will realize that his 
 duties and his interests are not limited by the boundaries of 
 his own country, — but extend to all mankind. The ideals 
 of America are fast becoming the ideals of the world. 
 Democracy has already become the basis of nearly every 
 civilized state. Religious freedom has triumphed in coun- 
 tries which were once stained with the blood of martyrs ; 
 and the country which still persists in religious persecution 
 is stigmatized by the conscience of mankind as barbarous 
 and brutal. Written constitutions have been accepted by 
 nearly every people as the only means to secure political 
 liberty and civil rights. And the idea of federalism is now 
 looked upon by philanthropists and statesmen as the only 
 rational and permanent substitute for war, by which the com- 
 petitive struggle between the nations may be superseded by 
 a cooperative effort to establish by peaceful means the uni- 
 versal reign of justice. It is on this account that the Ameri- 
 can is, in a certain sense, a participant in the progress of the 
 world. And it is for the reasons which have been mentioned 
 that I believe that American education should be based upon 
 that high conception of life whereby a man in becoming a 
 citizen may realize that he is living not only for his own 
 sake, but for the sake of his country and for the sake of 
 mankind. 
 
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