These things are, in fact,
the flower and fruit of civilization--in them consists the successful
'pursuit of happiness' which our ancestors coupled with life and liberty
as the inalienable rights of a man worthy of the name.
"In order that we may take a pride in our nationality and be willing to
make sacrifices for our country, it is necessary that it should satisfy
in some measure our ideal of what a nation ought to be. What now are the
characteristics of American state and social life which we desire to
see preserved? Among the most obvious are the following:
[Sidenote: American Ideals]
"(1) The free political constitution and the ability to govern
ourselves in the ordinary affairs of life, which we have inherited
from England and so surprisingly developed in our own history;
"(2) The social morality of the Puritan settlers of New England,
which the spirit of equality and the absence of privileged classes
have enabled us to maintain;
"(3) The economic well-being of the mass of the community, which
affords our working classes a degree of comfort distinguishing them
sharply from the artisans and peasants of Europe;
"(4) Certain social habits which are distinctively American or are,
at least, present in greater degree among our people than elsewhere
in the world.
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