More than thirty years had now passed since Raleigh first turned his mind
to the colonizing of Virginia. He was now approaching the scaffold; but he
could feel a lofty satisfaction in the thought that it was mainly through
him that an opportunity of incalculable magnitude and possibilities had
been given for the enlargement and felicity of his race. He had sowed the
seed of England beyond the seas, and the quality of the fruit it should
bear was already becoming apparent to his eyes, soon to close forever upon
earthly things. The spirit of America was his spirit. He was for freedom,
enlightenment, and enterprise; and whenever a son of America has fulfilled
our best ideal of what an American should be, we find in him some of the
traits and qualities which molded the deeds and colored the thoughts of
this mighty Englishman.

Nor can we find a better example of the restless, practical, resourceful
side of the American character than is offered in Captain John Smith; even
in his boastfulness we must claim kinship with him. His sterling manhood,
his indomitable energy, his fertile invention, his ability as a leader and
as a negotiator, all ally him with the traditional Yankee, who carries on
in so matter-of-fact a way the solution of the problems of the new
democracy. Both these men, each in his degree, were Americans before
America.

And with them we may associate the name of Columbus; to him also we must
concede the spiritual citizenship of our country; not because of the bare
fact that he was the first to reach its shores, but because he had a soul
valiant enough to resist and defy the conservatism that will believe in no
new thing, and turns life into death lest life should involve labor and
self-sacrifice. Columbus, Smith, and Raleigh stand at the portals of our
history, types of the faith, success and honor which are our heritage.