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Browder - The American Spirit
Browder - The American Spirit
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T
HE Spirit of America was invoked in
strident tones by the third inaugural of a foreign influence, which seize upon a laudable the two late cases of the 'Alien and Sedition
enthusiasm against danger from abroad, and dis- Acts.' . . . If a suspicion that aliens are dan-
address of President Roosevelt. But
tort it by an unnatural application, so as to blind gerous constitute the justification of that
the spirit which obviously moved the Presi- your eyes against danger at home.
dent's address revealed no resemblance to the power exercised over them by Congress, then
spirit of America. " T h e Bill of Rights remains inviolate," a similar suspicion will justify the exercise of
T h e spirit in which great Americans have Roosevelt said. By thus denying violations he a similar power over natives. . . . Let the
traditionally addressed the people on great expressed his approval of the rising wave of artificers of monarchy be asked what farther
occasions, was uniformly a spirit of modesty. repressions and limitations on popular rights, materials they can need for building up their
I cite a few examples: which he personally initiated, denying the favorite system."
validity of the Bill of Rights to those who " T h e freedom of elections is wholly main-
Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority
suffer these repressions. H e did not mention tained," Roosevelt declared. But at that mo-
of my qualifications, experience, in my own eyes—
the Alien Registration Law, for which he ment he was celebrating the victory of the
perhaps still more in the eyes of others—has
strengthened the motives to diffidence in myself. . . . bears personal responsibilitj^, and its accom- most gigantic rigging ever put over in the
—George Washington, Farewell Address, Sept. panying modern versions of the Alien and name of' an election. T h e most important
17, 1796. Sedition Law of 1798; nor did he quote the new converts to Roosevelt, the "economic
famous Virginia Resolutions, and Address to rojalists," had ganged up on the Republican
A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own quali- the People, cornerstones of American democ- Party Convention, which they normally con-
fication, will teach me to look with reverence to racy, in "protest against the palpable and trol, and forced it to nominate a Democrat,
the examples of public virtue left by my illustrious
predecessors, and with veneration to the lights that
flowed from the mind that founded and the mind
that reformed our system. The same diffidence in-
duces me to hope for instruction and aid from the
coordinate branches of the government. . . .
—Andrew Jackson, Inaugural, March 4, 1829.
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