True American Patriotism Defined by Hon. Curtis Guild and H. F. Kinnerney 1876

American Patriotism is defined by adhering to the ideals, principles and beliefs of the Founder’s of these United States of America.

 

See also:

PATRIOT SONS OF PATRIOT SIRES by Rev. Samuel Francis Smith 1808-1895

THE GENIUS OF AMERICA by Hon. Dr. Felix R. Brunot July 4, 1876

COURAGE! A Poem by Bryan Waller Procter 1787-1874

AIM HIGH! An Address by President Benjamin Harrison 1893

Joseph Baldwin: Address 1892, to National Teachers Association in New York

Constitution of the United States and it’s Governmental Operations (In Plain English)

An address before The Patria Club of Pawtucket, R. I. on Forefather’s Day 1876, was made by Mr. Guild and was devoted to a definition of “True Patriotism,” which was briefly described as “the passion which aims to serve and advance our country and maintain its laws and institutions in vigor and purity.” While according due value to the study and commemoration of brilliant examples of patriotism in past history, including the much abused Fourth-of-July celebrations, Mr. Guild said: “Anything great, noble, truly valuable, requires persistent effort, labor, and often self-sacrifice to obtain. Honest government, the right men in the right place, the proper and just administration of government, cannot be obtained by mere talk; it requires personal effort, combined effort, example, the practice of the precepts we recommend and adherence to the principles of truth and honesty which we commend to others in our own actions.” Governor Brown highly commended the organization because of the high service which it was rendering to the community, and Father Kinnerney, in the course of an eloquent address, said for a plain Irishman to attempt to tell New Englanders what patriotism is seemed to be something of a burlesque, but he would try and give his own impressions of the matter. After pronouncing a brief but impressive eulogy upon ex-Governor Littlefield, one of the founders of the club, he said:

“Patriotism is loyalty to country, and loyalty to country is loyalty io God. God first, and patriotism afterwards. God blesses and consecrates patriotism.

This is the anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. It is a strange thing for a Catholic to stand up here and laud the Pilgrim Fathers. But I do laud them. You, their children, cannot forget them. You must honor them. They were true patriots. The voyage of the Mayflower was in the providence of God, as well as the voyage of the Santa Maria bearing Christopher Columbus to the New World. What were the Pilgrim Fathers? God-fearing rnen they were. We must admire their sincerity, their fidelity to conscience, their trust in an overruling Providence. Do we blame them because they were not of our way of thinking? Oh, no ! they were the men for their times, and they laid the keel of the American ship of state. They taught manhood first, then the home, then the government of the town, then the state, then the Union. This generation ought to look back with pride to their history. They fulfilled all the duties of true patriotism.

There are no people who are more grateful for American citizenship than those who come from the country where I was born. They know what tyranny is, and they come here willing to take the oath of allegiance and proud to become American citizens. I believe this talk about religion interfering with a man’s citizenship is the merest sham. Religion does not unmake a citizen. If it is any form of Christianity it will make him a better citizen.

The Democratic party doesn’t own the Irish-American citizen and the Republican party ought not to—his conscience owns him, and his consolence should be in the direction of the public good. I was at the convention at Baltimore and heard nothing said about demanding public money for the parochial schools. We were told, not ordered, to open parochial schools if we thought best, and the people demanded them. So we did open them. It is the people who rule the priest, not the priest the people. We are not opposed to the public schools, but we want our own schools because we want more religious instruction. We may be wrong, but if we are we pay the bills ourselves.”