national consciousness first asserted itself by unmistakable action
with an array of force. The old sentiment of detached and dependent
colonies disappeared in the new sentiment of a united and independent
Nation. Men began to discard the narrow confines of a local charter for
the broader opportunities of a national constitution. Under the eternal
urge of freedom we became an independent Nation. A little less than 50
years later that freedom and independence were reasserted in the face
of all the world, and guarded, supported, and secured by the Monroe
doctrine. The narrow fringe of States along the Atlantic seaboard
advanced its frontiers across the hills and plains of an intervening
continent until it passed down the golden slope to the Pacific. We made
freedom a birthright. We extended our domain over distant islands in
order to safeguard our own interests and accepted the consequent
obligation to bestow justice and liberty upon less favored peoples. In
the defense of our own ideals and in the general cause of liberty we
entered the Great War. When victory had been fully secured, we withdrew
to our own shores unrecompensed save in the consciousness of duty done.

Throughout all these experiences we have enlarged our freedom, we have
strengthened our independence. We have been, and propose to be, more
and more American. We believe that we can best serve our own country
and most successfully discharge our obligations to humanity by
continuing to be openly and candidly, intensely and scrupulously,
American. If we have any heritage, it has been that. If we have any
destiny, we have found it in that direction.

But if we wish to continue to be distinctively American, we must
continue to make that term comprehensive enough to embrace the
legitimate desires of a civilized and enlightened people determined in
all their relations to pursue a conscientious and religious life. We