| "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 man's becoming in very fact 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, 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...and we
have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to
the American people."
--Theodore Roosevelt, 1919 |
