The American Spirit in the Writings of Americans of Foreign Birth
General
The American Spirit in the Writings of Americans of Foreign Birth
American literature; Americanization; Noncitizens -- United States
By nationality we understand the peculiar genius of a people which
animates its institutions, prompts its actions and begets a feeling of
common interest and sympathy. It is not the result of any compact, but
an instinct of human nature in its social capacity, an expansion of
the inborn love of self and kindred. To hate his own countrymen is as
unnatural as to hate his own brothers and sisters.
Nationality grows with the nation itself and acts as a powerful
stimulus in its development. But on the other side it presupposes an
organized state of society and is the result of a historical process.
Barbarians have no nationality, because they are no nations, but
simply material for nations. It is not only the community of origin
and language, but also the community of rights and duties, of laws
and institutions, of deeds and sufferings, of freedom and oppression,
of literature and art, of virtue and religion, that enters into the
definition of a nation and gives vigor to the sense of nationality.
Historical reminiscences of glory and woe, whether preserved in
monuments, or written records, or oral traditions, popular songs and
national airs, such as “God save the Queen,” “Ye mariners of England,”
“Rule, Britannia,” “Scots wha hae with Wallace bled,” “Allons enfants
de la patrie,” “Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland,” “The Star Spangled
Banner,” “Hail, Columbia,” contribute powerfully to strengthen the
national tie and to kindle the fire of national enthusiasm.
Nationality begets patriotism, one of the noblest of natural virtues
that has filled the pages of history with so many heroic deeds and
sacrifices. Who can read without admiration the immortal story of
Gideon, Leonidas, Cincinnatus, Horatius Cocles, William Tell, Arnold
von Winkelried, the Maid of Orleans, John Hampden, Prince William of
Orange, Andreas Hofer, George Washington, who lived or died for their
country?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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