Would you agree with this? By T.R.?

Question

"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all.

This is just as true of the man who puts "native" before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.

But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as any one else.

The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English- Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian- Americans, or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality than with the other citizens of the American Republic.

The men who do not become Americans and nothing else are hyphenated Americans; and there ought to be no room for them in this country. The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly mischievous part in the life of our body politic. He has no place here; and the sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better it will be for every good American."

Addressing the Knights of Columbus in New York City - October 12, 1915

Answer 1

I like the patriotism expressed, but I object to the "my way or the highway" approach. I have no business telling you how to identify what is unique about you, just as you have no business telling me what is unique to me.

I know a great many "African-Americans" who have been identified variously by the culture for being different from Americans descended from European ethnicities. I have been pleased, during my lifetime, to see that distinction matter less and less and less, but to deny its existence because we don't like the racism implicit in the history of the distinction is naive.

We use the term Melting Pot to describe American culture, but to my mind We the People form more of a stew. We can still distinguish the carrots from the potatoes, but over time, the herbs and spices blend to be more flavorful than the original stock.

We can celebrate our differences and still marinate in and build upon our commonalities.

Answer 2

Arby made some good points and I agree that everyone who is here legally should be given the opportunity to have all the rights and responsibilities of any American citizen. Yet some people prefer different titles (like Native-Americans) and they have a right to keep that distinction.

I don't think we need to get uptight about the distinctions and I enjoy living in a community that honors cultural differences. A majority of the people in my community speak Espanol and I have learned to adjust to that. I know that most of my neighbors are fiercely patriotic even if they identify themselves by a hyphenated name.

TR made his staement about this agenda a hundred years ago and things are changing. We are becoming a more global community because of the technological advances in communication and travel. This is not a bad change and I welcome the opportunity to grow in understanding and cooperation with other people on this planet.

Answer 3

While I tend to be hyper-patriotic myself, as my family was in this country when the rest of the world still called it "the colonies", I think that T.R.'s comments reflect the times more than they do a timeless sentiment. Reading this speech, I couldn't help being a little conflicted:

As Americans, I think that it is special and vitally important for citizens to remember and even identify with the culture they came from. We are the world's "melting pot", and the variety of cultures represented among us is one of the strengths that makes us more interesting and dynamic as a country. I have no problem with someone privately identifyng themselves an Irish American or Italian American - as long as they publicly identify as AMERICAN, and would defend this soil (even in the unlikley event of being invaded by that person's homeland) with their lives, if necessary.

On the side of patriotism though, I DO agree with T.R.'s speech in that once you have become a naturalized American, this is the country you identify with and hold allegiance to - no going back. LOYALTY is tantamount. My questions to the people who choose to identify themselves in such a manner go something like this:

If you liked your home country so much, then why did you come to America?

If your country offered the same opportunities and freedoms, again, why come to America?

What is it you hope to gain by being here?

What attracted you to this country in the first place?

Regardless of the answers to these questions, for me, what's at the heart of the issue is what has been done and sacrificed in the name of a country you are now a citizen of. Act with a little respect and reverence for what it and its people stand for, and either count yourself as one of them, or otherwise get out... We neither want, nor need your kind here...

Answer 4

All I can say is "Amen!". My dad was an immigrant from a coal-mining town in Wales. He came to the States, studied and became a citizen. Ask him today what he is, and his chest will puff up a little and he will proudly say, "American".