TRUE AMERICANISM -April 1894 -Theodore Roosevelt

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/troosevelt.asp

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907. "In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American ... There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag ... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language ... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Origins:   Theodore Roosevelt was about to finish his first two-year term as governor of the state of New York when the Republican Party chose him as its candidate for Vice-President in the 1900 national election. The Republicans were victorious at the ballot box that year, but Roosevelt held the vice-presidency for less than a year

before he was elevated to the White House upon the assassination of President William McKinley on 14 September 1901, thereby becoming the youngest person ever to hold the office of President of the United States. Roosevelt was elected to a full term as president in 1904, and among his many notable achievements was his selection as a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for his part in the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Portsmouth that ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.



Although Roosevelt did not hold public office again after leaving the presidency in 1909 (his efforts to regain the White House as a third party candidate in 1912 proving unsuccessful), he remained active in the public political sphere; in the waning years of his life, as World War I raged in Europe and America entered the conflict on the side of the Allies, he frequently spoke of his belief that immigrants taking up residence in the U.S. should assimilate into American society as quickly as possible, learn the English language, eschew hyphenated national identities (e.g., "Italian-American") and declare their primary national allegiance to the United States of America.

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The year is 1907, one hundred
years ago … but the speaker knew what he was talking about.

Theodore Roosevelt’s ideas
on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907:

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here
in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall
be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage
to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or
origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet
an American and nothing but an American. … There can be no divided allegiance
here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t
an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. …
We have room for but one language here and that is the English language
… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

Theodore Roosevelt 1907
Every American citizen needs to read this!

Myth Blaster Verdict: True, in so far as the speech/written words by Theodore Roosevelt; however the date 1907 is incorrect. The words come from a letter that was written shortly before Colonel/President Roosevelt’s death in January of 1919.

Snopes

Theodore Roosevelt was about to finish his first two-year term as governor of the state of New York when the Republican Party chose him as its candidate for Vice-President in the 1900 national election. The Republicans were victorious at the ballot box that year, but Roosevelt held the vice-presidency for less than a year before he was elevated to the White House upon the assassination of President William McKinley on 14 September 1901, thereby becoming the youngest person ever to hold the office of President of the United States. Roosevelt was elected to a full term as president in 1904, and among his many notable achievements was his selection as a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for his part in the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Portsmouth that ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Although Roosevelt did not hold public office again after leaving the presidency in 1909 (his efforts to regain the White House as a third party candidate in 1912 proving unsuccessful) he remained active in the public political sphere; in the waning years of his life, as World War I raged in Europe and America entered the conflict on the side of the Allies, he frequently spoke of his belief that immigrants taking up residence in the U.S. should assimilate into American society as quickly as possible, learn the English language, eschew hyphenated national identities (e.g., “Italian-American”) and declare their primary national allegiance to the United States of America. On 1 February 1916, for example,

Roosevelt advocated measures for strengthening and ensuring the “loyalty” of American immigrants: Theodore Roosevelt, speaking at a luncheon given yesterday by Mrs. Vincent Astor for the National Americanization Committee in the Astor Court Building, declared that one of the reasons why many German-Americans have shown greater love for their native land that for their adopted country is that the German system demands greater loyalty than is demanded in this country, and a greater contribution to the common welfare. “And all of you know I am free from a taint of neutrality,” he added, “so I can say this without suspicion.”

The encouragement of better housing conditions and a compulsion to learn the English language, Colonel Roosevelt said, would help the process of Americanization.

… A few months later, Roosevelt expanded on this theme in a series of Memorial Day speeches he delivered in St. Louis:
Moral treason to the United States was charged by Mr. Roosevelt, in an address delivered before the City Club, against German-Americans who seek to make their governmental representatives act in the interests of Germany rather than this country. He characterized the German-American Alliance as “an anti-American alliance,” but added that he believed that its members “not only do not represent but scandalously misrepresent” the great majority of real Americans of German origin. Using the motto “America for Americans” for all Americans, whether they were born here or abroad, the former President declared that “the salvation of our people lies in having a nationalized and unified America, ready for the tremendous tasks of both war and peace.” “I appeal to all our citizens,” the colonel said, “no matter from what land their forefathers came, to keep this ever in mind, and to shun with scorn and contempt the sinister intriguers and mischief makers who would seek to divide them along lines of creed, or birthplace or of national origin.”
Col. Roosevelt said he came to St. Louis to speak on Americanism – to speak of and condemn the use of the hyphen “whenever it represents an effort to form political parties along racial lines or to bring pressure to bear on parties and politicians, not for American purposes, but in the interest of some group of voters of a certain national origin or of the country from which they or their fathers came.”

… In a Fourth of July speech in 1917,
Roosevelt urged the adoption of linguistic uniformity, including a requirement that all foreign-language newspapers published in the U.S. should also include English translations … Likewise on 27 May 1918, Roosevelt urged in a speech at Des Moines, Iowa, that English be the sole language of instruction used in American schools. … The comments quoted at this head of the page are more in the same vein; excerpts not from (as claimed in the accompanying text) a statement made by Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 (while he was still President), but from a letter written shortly before his death in January 1919, just a few months after the armistice that ended the fighting in World War I:

NEW YORK, Jan. 6. – What was the last public statement by Col. Roosevelt was read last night at an “All-American concert” here under the auspices of the American Defense society, of which he was honorary president.
“I cannot be with you and so all I can do is wish you Godspeed,” it read. “There may be no sagging back in the fight for Americanism merely because the war is over. There are plenty of persons who have already made the assertion that they believe the American people have a short memory and that they intend to revive all the foreign associations which more directly interfere with the complete Americanization of our people. Our principle in this matter should be absolutely simple. In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with every one else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birthplace of origin. But this is predicted upon the man’s becoming in every fact an American and nothing but an American. If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of  America, then he isn’t doing his part as an American. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, and American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house; and we have room for but one soul [sic] loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people.”

I Believe in a Dream - Why America

The letter above can, in its entirety, be obtained from the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress (through which you can obtain a copy of this letter at their website).

On September 29^th, 2005, Dr. John Fonte, Ph.D.. Senior Fellow and Director of the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, provided testimony before the House of Immigration Subcommittee in a speech entitled “Dual Allegiance Harms Immigration Reform and Patriotic Assimilation” …

Thank you, Chairman Hostettler. … My testimony today has the endorsement of the Citizenship Roundtable, an alliance of the Hudson Institute and the American Legion, formed in 1999 to strengthen the integrity of the citizenship naturalization process and promote the patriotic assimilation of immigrants into the American way of life. … I would like to introduce into the record the entire American Legion Resolution Number 165.

(1) PATRIOTIC ASSIMILATION: THE REASON FOR AMERICA’S HISTORIC SUCCESS ASSIMILATING IMMIGRANTS
Since the beginning of the Republic in the 18^th century American political leaders have welcomed immigrants and at the same time insisted that they become loyal Americans. In 1794 President George Washington wrote to Vice-President John Adams on immigration policy.

Washington deplored the situation in which newcomers would remain isolated in immigration enclaves and cling to their old ways. He recommended that immigration policy encourage assimilation into the mainstream of American life and values so that immigrants and native-born Americans would “soon become one people.”

… During the Washington Administration, the U.S. Congress passed the Naturalization Acts of 1795 requiring candidates for citizenship to satisfy a court of admission as to their “good moral character” and of their “attachment to the principles of the Constitution.” Moreover, the new citizens took a solemn oath to support the Constitution of the United States and “renounce” all “allegiance” to their former political regimes.

Professor Thomas West of the University of Dallas and the Claremont Institute in Vindicating the Founders has noted that all the leading Founders, even long time ideological opponents Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton agreed that undivided political loyalty or what could be called patriotic assimilation was central to a successful immigration policy. Thomas Jefferson insisted on assimilating newcomers into the American political regime because he worried that the “greatest number of emigrants” will come from countries whose political principles differed greatly from American principles.

… And Jefferson’s major political rival, Alexander Hamilton agreed with him and the other Founders on the necessity of patriotic assimilation.

… During the period of large scale immigration, in the late 19^thand early 20^th centuries, American leaders, like the Founding Fathers before them, promoted the patriotic assimilation of immigrants. The language of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Louis Brandeis paralleled that of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton in its insistence that newcomers assimilate to American values and give undivided loyalty to their new country.
Theodore Roosevelt declared that:

“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicted upon the man’s becoming an American and nothing but an American. … There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. … We have room for one soul (sic) loyalty and that is loyalty to the American people.” Republican Roosevelt’s major political rival Democrat Woodrow Wilson favored a similar approach to the patriotic assimilation of immigrants. In 1915, President Wilson told a mass naturalization ceremony of new citizens:“ I certainly would not be one even to suggest that a man cease to love the home of his birth … but it is one thing to love the place where you were born and it is another to dedicate yourself to the place in which you go.…

(II) THE TRANSFER OF ALLEGIANCE
For more than 200 years, immigrants upon becoming American citizens have taken an “oath of renunciation and allegiance,” renouncing previous allegiance and pledging allegiance to the United States of America. …

(III) DUAL ALLEGIANCE IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE MORAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY
Dual Allegiance is incompatible with the moral and philosophical basis of American constitutional democracy for two major reasons. First, dual allegiance challenges our core foundation as a civic nation (built on political loyalty) by promoting a racial and ethnic basis for allegiance and by subverting our “nation of (assimilated) immigrants” ethic. Second, dual allegiance violates a vital principle of American democracy: equality of citizenship. … [You can read the full testimony from the Congressional records at the In section VI, the oversight examines the Mexican Government policies: Among immigrant-sending countries Mexico is unique. It sends the largest number of immigrants (approximately 30% of all total immigration); the largest number of illegal immigrants (estimated five to six million of ten million illegal); it lost a large chunk of its national territory in the 19^th century to the colossus to the north; and, of course, it shares a 2,600 mile border with the United States. In the 1990s, Mexico changed its strategy towards the

United States (e.g., greater economic integration, support for NAFTA, etc.) and towards Mexican-Americans, seeking to build closer relations with both. One of the tools of this new strategy was the slow, steady, but increasing promotion of dual allegiance for Mexican-Americans – the promotion, essentially, of the “ampersand”; and the effort to create a transnational political space and identity. Shortly before the Mexican Congress enacted its first version of the dual nationality law allowing many Mexican-American citizens to possess dual US-Mexican nationality, Linda Chavez voiced concerns in her syndicated column:

“Never before has the United States had to face a problem of dual loyalties among its citizens of such great magnitude and proximity. Although some other countries – such as Israel, Columbia, and the Dominican Republic allow dual nationality – no other nation sends as many immigrants to the United States nor shares a common border. For the first time, millions of U.S. citizens could declare their allegiance to a neighboring country.”

…
In practice for more than ten years the Mexican government has been deeply
involved in issues of American domestic policies: vigorously promoting particular
policies, working with special interest groups, and lobbying state legislatures.
The Mexican government strongly opposed Proposition 187 in California prohibiting
using non-emergency public funds, including education money for illegal
immigrants; and Proposition 227 in California that promoted learning English
and restricted bi-lingual programs that emphasized Spanish acquisition over
English. In opposing Proposition 187 the Mexican government coordinated
the meeting of the Zacatecas Federation of Los Angeles, California with
Zacatecas Federation of Chicago, Illinois, and facilitated the financial
contribution of the Chicago group to the anti-Proposition 187 cause in California.
As Banard Professor Robert C. Smith put it, “The theoretically interesting
thing is that these two groups organized within US civil society on the
basis of their common origin in a Mexican state [Zacatecas], being brought
together by the Mexican [nation] state and then participating together in
American politics in two different American states.” In recent years Mexican
government lobbyists in state capitols throughout the United States have
strongly advocated drivers licenses and special identification documents
(matricula consular) for illegal immigrants.

…
In 2004, the Mexican government opposed Arizona’s Proposition 200 that forbid
all but emergency funds going to illegal immigrants. Although this measure
passed overwhelming *by 56% of the vote, including 47% of Latino voters,
according to CNN) the Mexican government has even joined with American advocacy
groups (including MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education
Fund) in a lawsuit to overturn the decision of the citizens of Arizona.
At the same time, the Mexican government with the acquiescence and support
of some American educational officials in American public schools is cultivating
dual allegiance among Americans of Mexican descent.

…
Mexican legislative bodies have reserved seats for deputies representing
“Mexicans living in the United States.” … It is sometimes argued that even
if the principle of retaining political loyalty to the “old country” is
inconsistent with the moral basis of American democracy, the result is a
good thing in practice because immigrant dual citizens promote “pro-American”
and “democratic” values in elections in their birth countries. This sounds
reasonable, but is not necessarily the case.

For
example, Mr. de la Cruz was elected as member of the traditionally anti-American,
Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). The website of the California PRD,
the political home of many naturalized American citizens, contain blatant
lies about the United States, including the charge that “the Mexican migrant
who lives abroad [in the US] is a citizen without human rights” and efforts
to the get the US “to treat them as human beings” has “not been heard in
the structures of the American government.” This is a gross falsehood.

To
say that the Mexican immigrant, specifically the illegal immigration is part
of a Mexican Invasion is an understatement. The issue of illegal immigrants,
while it has been shelved temporarily is still ongoing. Despite of what the
majority of Americans want, in so far as immigration policy is still on the
back burner – and those who want to provide amnesty to 12 million or more
illegal immigrants that has been pushed by President Bush is still in the
minds of those who agree, despite countless protests from the American people
and the factual information provided by pundits and bloggers who show that
it is bad for America in several ways. And with Mexican government policy
being pushed within the various state governments in the United States and
President George W. Bush’s drive to create a North American Union (NAU) – America’s sovereignty is at stake, indeed the very foundation of what founded and created a nation as great as the United States of America. But the Congress and the White House are not listening, instead they are ignoring the facts of economic, social and constitutional endangerment is present now and turning for the worse in light of the illegal immigrant movement and its underlying Mexican invasive policy.

President Roosevelt speaks about being an American

We must listen and provide diplomacy
with other governments of other nations, providing a dialogue of peace and
compatibility in the areas of trade and human progress; however, we must not
allow or never allow any other national government to interfere with the infrastructure
of the government of the United States, whether it is federal, state or local.
President Theodore Roosevelt was right – there is only room for one flag and
one established official language – English. And so are those in Congress
who echo his words and theme of patriotic assimilation. We must continue to
welcome immigrants as long as there is room for their numbers, and a need
for their various career talents – but we cannot continue to create pockets
of nationalistic ethnic groups that are not loyal or patriotic to the American
way of life, its traditions and its values. For if we do, we might as well
begin drafting a book entitled: “The Rise and Fall of the United States of
America.”