The men who founded the American colonies brought these rights across the Atlantic with them. In the new soil civic liberty grew and nourished even better than in the old, so much so that Englishmen at home soon became concerned over the strong emphasis which the colonies were placing upon the civil rights of the individual. The gap between the colonies and Great Britain steadily widened in this respect,—leading in the end to the Declaration of Independence, which asserted the civil rights of men to be natural and inalienable. When independence had been established, after a long and difficult struggle, it is not surprising that the people of the thirteen states should decide to write the principles of civil liberty into their new state constitutions. They took this means of demonstrating their conviction that the fundamental rights of the citizen ought to be inscribed in a solemn document beyond the power of legislatures to change. It would be absurd to think, however, that civil liberty exists in the United States merely because a list of civil rights is written into the constitutions of the states and the nation. In the last analysis civil rights depend for their maintenance and enforcement upon a realization of their value by the whole people and the willingness of every citizen to grant to others the rights which he claims for himself.

Who are Citizens?—The proudest boast of the Roman, in the days when Rome dominated the world was Civis Romanus sum: “I am a Roman citizen”. By this saying he meant that he was entitled to the protection of the most powerful country on earth. Cicero, in one of his orations, declared that these three words would protect any Roman citizen no matter where he went, even among savage tribes. A Roman citizen was one who owed allegiance to Rome. An American citizen is one who owes allegiance to the United States.^[19] Every man, woman, and child in every part of the world bears a relation to some government, and this relation we call allegiance. There is no such thing, in the eyes of the law, as “a man without a country”. |Citizenship by birth.| This allegiance, or citizenship, is acquired in the great majority of cases by birth. The constitution of the United States declares that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside”. This means that every child born in this country and subject to its jurisdiction is a citizen, no matter who his parents happen to be.^[20]

The other method of acquiring citizenship is by naturalization. Naturalization is the process by which an alien renounces his original allegiance and swears allegiance to another country. All white aliens, and those of African blood, are entitled to become citizens of the United States by naturalization if they fulfil the legal requirements. The chief requirement is that the alien who seeks to be naturalized must have been continuously a resident of the United States for at least five years. He must also be able to read and write, must have some knowledge of American institutions, must be of good character, and must not be a disbeliever in organized government. |The process in naturalization.| The process of individual naturalization involves two steps, first a formal declaration of intent to become a citizen, and, second, the taking of final letters of citizenship. At least two years, and not more than seven years, must elapse between these two steps. The work of granting citizenship by naturalization is in the hands of such regular courts as are designated by law for this purpose. Applications must be on prescribed forms; evidence as to residence has to be presented; and the oath of allegiance to the United States must be taken. Many thousands of aliens are admitted to citizenship in this way every year.^[21] The naturalization of a husband also naturalizes his wife without any action on her part. The naturalization of a father makes all his minor children citizens.

Can a Man have Double Citizenship?—Is it possible for anyone to be a citizen of two countries at once? Until recent years it was the practice of some European countries to claim that when their citizens emigrated and became naturalized elsewhere they still retained their original allegiance. Germany, for example, maintained that German emigrants to the United States did not lose their German citizenship by becoming naturalized here. If they subsequently returned to Germany, even for a short time, they were treated as German citizens, required to serve in the army and to perform the other obligations of German citizenship. This situation created a great deal of friction because the naturalized citizens were in the habit of calling upon the United States to protect them against their own original governments. All this has now been straightened out by treaties between the United States and foreign governments in which the latter have conceded the right of emigrants to become naturalized in the United States and by so doing to renounce their original citizenship. The United States, for its part, also concedes the right of any American citizen to become naturalized in a foreign country, thereby renouncing his allegiance as an American citizen. These treaties sometimes provide, however, that if an individual who has been naturalized in the United States goes back to his native country and remains there a certain length of time, he shall be deemed to have given up his American citizenship.

The Obligations of Citizenship.—Many people seem to think that citizenship involves only rights. They rarely place much emphasis upon the duties which citizenship involves. A government protects its citizens both at home and abroad; it secures them all the benefits of civil liberty. In return it lays on them the duty of obedience and the obligation of service. It is the duty of every good citizen to know his country’s history, to honor its flag, and to be true to its ideals. This does not mean that he should despise or dislike people who are not of his own race or allegiance. All men are brothers. Above all nations is humanity. Yet no one can be a friend of mankind unless he is, first of all, a friend of his own land.

It is also the duty of the citizen to know his country’s laws and to obey them. No one knows all the laws, or needs to know them all, for very few of them touch the daily life of any one individual. He should know the laws in so far as he comes into contact with them. The merchant must know the laws relating to business; there is no need for him to learn the legal rules relating to the practice of medicine, for example. The physician, on his part, must know the law in so far as it relates to his own profession, but does not need to inform himself concerning the laws which relate to the buying and selling of goods. Laws are made in the common interest and if ignorance of the law were permitted to be an excuse for disobedience, the whole system of government would soon break down.

Finally, it is the duty of the citizen to serve his government when called upon. This may take the form of military service in time of war, or service in public office, or service on a jury. All these various forms of service may involve great personal sacrifice; but a country worth having is a country worth serving, and it is only through service on the part of its citizens that a free government can be maintained.

Training for Citizenship in the Schools.—Training for citizenship begins in the home and in the schools. The purpose of the school is not merely to impart information. That is a small part of its work. Its main function is to afford the sort of mental and moral training that will enable every pupil to achieve the durable satisfactions of life,—to make a good living, to be of high service to others, and to leave the world a little better by reason of his having lived in it. Many of the best fruits of education are not found listed on the school program. Orderliness is one of them. Industry is another. Responsibility for doing daily tasks well is a third. There are no special courses in these things. They are part and parcel of the whole process of education. No one should make the mistake of supposing that the schools train for citizenship through instruction in American history, civics, and economics alone. The whole organization of the school, its entire program of studies, its assemblies, its discipline, its insistence on punctuality, its organized athletics and other activities,—all these things afford lessons in co-operation, responsibility, service, and government.

The public school is a miniature democracy. It is free and open to all. Its pupils have equal privileges and equal responsibilities. It makes no distinction of race, creed, or wealth. The children of rich and poor parents sit side by side and are given the same opportunities. Every pupil who enrolls in a public school gets the same start and his advancement depends upon his own efforts. In the course of time some will lead and others fall behind, just as men and women do in the outside world. Wherever individuals, young or old, are gathered together, some will forge ahead of the rest by virtue of their natural ability, their superior industry, or their qualities of leadership. School experience should impress this great fact of democratic life upon every pupil’s mind. The pupil who imagines that he can be regularly behind in his studies, neglectful of his opportunities, unable to command the respect of his teachers or his fellows in the school, and yet hope to become a leader in the outside world is making a grave mistake. It is not thus that the leaders of men are trained. The useful citizen does not become so in a day or a year. He begins to develop his qualities while he is young.^[22]

Training for Citizenship on the Playground.—Recreation and play, when properly carried on, afford not only exercise and amusement, but education as well. Some useful lessons which cannot well be taught in the class-room are learned by participation in organized athletics. Everyone realizes, for example, that play in which there is no leadership, no observance of rules, and no system, is a very poor sort of play. It may give physical exercise in plenty, yet it satisfies nobody. Anarchy on the playground is no more satisfying than anarchy in any other branch of human activity. Hence, whenever a group of young men or young women go to the athletic field, their first step is to organize into teams or sides. Each team has its captain whose directions are to be obeyed, not because he is an autocrat, but because the team cannot hope to win unless it is provided with leadership. When play begins it is conducted according to rules which everyone is supposed to know and observe. If the contest is important, an umpire is selected to act as arbitrator on questions involving an infraction of the rules. Now all this is merely government on a small scale. The element of leadership, the team-play, the rules, the practice of obeying the umpire—these things should suggest to us that officials, laws, government, and courts also make for the best interests of the individual in the great interplay of life.

What is it that secures co-operation, obedience, and good temper on the playground? Is it the fear of punishment? No, it is the same force which in organized society secures obedience to law and respect for the rights of others, namely, the influence of public opinion. Public opinion, in other words an inherent sense of fair play among the players, is what really rules the playground. Bullying or meanness in any form results in unpopularity. The player who sulks, who shirks his part in the game, or who selfishly seeks his own way at all times is not preparing himself rightly to win the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens in later life. On the other hand the boy or girl who gains on the playground a reputation for fairness, good temper, and a readiness to act in harmony with others is developing those qualities of character which enable men and women to achieve success in any field of adult activity. The Duke of Wellington once declared that the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton,—a famous boys’ school in England. What he meant was that this victory was won not by military skill alone, but by those qualities of discipline and bull-dog tenacity which the officers of his army had developed on the school athletic fields in their boyhood days. Peace hath her victories not less renowned than war. Good citizens as well as good soldiers can be trained on the playgrounds of every community.^[23]

Training for Citizenship in Later Life.—Civic education is not completed when one graduates from school. A man’s whole life is a process of education, a process that is never finished until he dies. So the work of self-improvement should not be interrupted at any stage. If the pupil goes to college, it will be found that there the same qualities of obedience, industry, and respect for the rights of others will determine whether he stands high or low in the estimation of his equals. In the college as in the school, everyone starts upon the same plane with equal opportunities. The college also is an organization with officials in authority, with rules, and with a vigilant public opinion among its students. Compared with the school it rises a step nearer to the ways of the world, giving its students greater latitude but also placing more responsibility upon them. Its organized athletics develop the same qualities as are encouraged upon the school playground; its various other student activities help to make young men and women more versatile and broader in their interests. Colleges try to make scholars; they also endeavor to develop habits of industry in their students and to impress upon them the duty of service to their fellow-men. On the whole the colleges have succeeded in these things. It is significant that the great majority of the nation’s leaders, in every branch of life, are men and women who have had a college education.

Not all high school graduates, however, go to college. The majority go directly out into the world as wage earners or home makers. They enter the ranks of our great economic society and seek to move onward to the top. For the most part all must begin at the bottom, or very near it. A high school or college education does not relieve anyone from the necessity of starting on a low rung of the ladder in his chosen trade or profession. Neither the school nor the college can teach the actual process of earning a living. This must be learned by direct contact with the affairs of the world. But the school and the college can so prepare young citizens that they will climb faster by virtue of the mental training they have obtained and the habits of industry they have acquired.

Citizenship and Service.—To make one’s own way successfully in the world is a laudable ambition, but no one can be and remain a good citizen if he devotes his entire time and thought to his own self-advancement. It is well to be diligent in business and faithful to the immediate duty in hand, but no inspiring career has ever been built upon foundations of selfishness. If everyone is engrossed in his own affairs, there will be none to serve and aid the state. On the other hand a very small amount of public service freely and cheerfully given by every citizen, results in great benefits to the community which receives this service, and to the individuals who give it as well. In this sense, as in all others, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

The ways of service are manifold. Every community has its civic and welfare organizations whose aim is the general good. They draw their members and their active workers from among those citizens who are public spirited. Boards of trade and chambers of commerce devote themselves to advancing the economic interests of the community. Municipal improvement leagues, citizens’ associations, men’s clubs, and women’s societies are to be found in every large town or city; they have various aims but all are guided by the same general aspiration, which is to better the environment in which the people live. The opportunities for women have been greatly increased by giving them the same responsibilities as men in all public activities. There are organizations for the care of the poor, for visiting the sick, and for the prevention of cruelty in all its forms. All depend for the effectiveness of their work, and even for their very existence, upon the degree of interest given to them by public-spirited citizens. There is no one so poor or so busy that he can give no money, no time, and no sympathy to any public cause. The citizen who centers all his interest upon his own personal affairs is not only missing one of the durable satisfactions of life but is giving himself a schooling in selfishness. He is not a good citizen in the proper sense of the term.

Service in public office is the best training for good citizenship, although not all men and women can have this form of civic education. Yet everyone has a right to aspire to it, and ought to welcome the opportunity of such service if it comes. It does not usually come unearned. Like most other opportunities, this one knocks at the doors of those who have earned their right to it. Men and women who have displayed no evidence of public spirit are rarely called upon to let their names go on the ballot. The first step to honorable public office is taken when one joins a civic or welfare organization and shows ability to work with and for others. Thus a man’s acquaintance, or a woman’s acquaintance, gradually broadens; the confidence of others is gained; and in time the hand of the public beckons to those who have demonstrated their spirit of service.

Public office is a public trust. The proffer of its opportunities to any man or woman is a high compliment. Election to public office is the highest honor a democratic community can bestow. As a means of becoming well versed in public affairs and in the practical problems of government there is no training which surpasses it.

Everett Kimball, National Government of the United States, pp. 73-80;

W. B. Munro, Government of the United States, pp. 71-87;

J. A. Woodburn and T. F. Moran, The Citizen and the Republic, pp. 1-31;

S. W. McCall, The Liberty of Citizenship, pp. 1-31;

James Bryce, The Hindrances to Good Citizenship, especially pp. 43-74;

F. A. Cleveland, Organized Democracy, pp. 80-129;

S. E. Baldwin, The Relations of Education to Citizenship, pp. 27-54;

W. H. Taft, Four Aspects of Civic Duty, pp. 3-34.

1. How aliens are naturalized. The requirements. Who are excluded? Steps in naturalization procedure, the papers, witnesses, oaths, fees, etc., required. The tests which applicants must take. How aliens can best be encouraged to become naturalized. What is being done to secure the naturalization of aliens in your own community? References: Cyclopedia of American Government, Vol. II, pp. 497-498; W. B. Munro, Government of American Cities, pp. 107-111; H. M. Beck, Aliens’ Text Book on Citizenship, especially pp. 9-26; Peter Roberts, The Problem of Americanization, pp. 109-129; U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Naturalization, Syllabus of the Naturalization Law (pamphlet).

2. Education in its relations to good citizenship. References: Irving King, Education for Social Efficiency, pp. 90-176; James Bryce, The Hindrances to Good Citizenship, pp. 33-42; S. E. Baldwin, The Relations of Education to Citizenship, pp. 1-26.

3. The civic organizations of your community. One or more organizations, such as Chambers of Commerce, Boards of Trade, Citizens’ Associations, Men’s Clubs, Women’s Clubs, Civic Leagues, Local Improvement Associations, City Clubs, Reform Associations, Family Welfare Societies, etc., etc., may be found in every large community. Their aims and activities may be studied in their annual reports and by personal interviews with their officers.

1. First steps in civil liberty. James H. Tufts, Our Democracy, pp. 101-116.

2. What are the “privileges and immunities” of citizens? Arnold J. Lien, Privileges and Immunities of Citizens of the United States, especially pp. 31-68.

3. Expatriation. G. B. Davis, Elements of International Law, pp. 143-151; W. E. Hale, International Law (4th ed.), pp. 239-255.

4. Freedom of speech and of the press. Cyclopedia of American Government, pp. 57-58; T. M. Cooley, Constitutional Limitations, pp. 596-638.

5. Freedom of worship. James Bryce, American Commonwealth, Vol. II, pp. 763-771; C. W. Eliot, American Contributions to Civilization, pp. 18-21.

6. The rights of the citizen against the government. F. A. Cleveland, Organized Democracy, pp. 80-96.

7. The right to fair judicial process. Emlin McClain, Constitutional Law of the United States, pp. 315-332.

8. How the hindrances to good citizenship may be removed. S. E. Baldwin, The Relation of Education to Citizenship, pp. 27-54.

9. The playground as a place of education for citizenship. Joseph Lee, Play in Education, pp. 360-391.

10. How the business man can help his community. Henry Bruère, The New City Government, pp. 384-400.

11. How women can serve their community. Mary R. Beard, Woman’s Work in Municipalities, especially pp. 319-337.

12. May the obstacles to good citizenship be overcome? James Bryce, The Hindrances to Good Citizenship, pp. 105-134.

13. School government as a training for citizenship. U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin No. 8 (1915), pp. 7-31; Irving King, Education for Social Efficiency, pp. 158-176.

1. What is the difference between the following: citizens, subjects, nationals, residents, denizens, aliens?

2. What is meant by the expression to “swear allegiance”? To “forswear allegiance”? Repeat the oath of allegiance. When is the oath taken (a) by aliens; (b) by citizens?

3. Are the following American citizens by birth: (a) a boy born abroad, of alien parentage, whose parents came to the United States and were naturalized after he was over twenty-one years of age; (b) children of Chinese parents, born in the United States; (c) children of American parents, born in the Philippines; (d) children of Porto Rican parents, born in Europe since 1917?

4. Name four important civic rights. Arrange in each case a set of facts which would constitute a violation of a civic right.

5. The constitution provides that the people shall have the right to assemble peaceably. Would it be a violation of this right to require that a permit from the police must be had in order to hold any meeting in the streets or in the public parks?

6. Discuss the extent to which the public school is a “miniature democracy”. Is it organized like a democratic government? To what extent and under what circumstances can school pupils be entrusted with self-government or given a share in the maintenance of discipline?

7. To what extent can public opinion be relied upon to enforce the rules (a) in athletics; (b) in the class-rooms; (c) in business; (d) in government? Would laws be effective if there were no penalties but the censure of public opinion to enforce them? If not, why not?

8. What is the value of a high school or college education in training young men and women (a) to make a living; (b) to become leaders; (c) to help their fellow-citizens; (d) to hold public office? Towards which of these things does education contribute the most?

9. Can any one be a good citizen without knowing how government is carried on? Without knowing American history? Without belonging to any social or civic organization? Without voting at elections? Without being at all interested in social or political questions?

1. No one who is not a citizen should be permitted to become a voter.

2. The obligation of military service ought to be imposed upon aliens as well as upon citizens.

3. The teaching of civics should be made compulsory in all grammar and high schools.