Preface
“The Short Constitution” is one of a series of volumes entitled “Elementary Americanism”, intended for use in the home, the club, the school, and in general Americanization work.
It is our hope that regular courses in “Americanism” will soon be established in all schools, colleges, and universities.
We use the term “Americanism” because we feel that it signifies something broader, deeper, and more appealing than any title now used in the schools in the teaching of American government, or citizenship, or the rights and duties of the citizens of the United States.
We like the term “America” better than “the United States”. “The United States” suggests boundaries, codes, and constitutions. “America” suggests all these and then it suggests spirit. There is such a thing as “Americanism”. It includes all there is of information relating to our country; but it also has a soul “Americanism” relates to democracy, into which enter all the ideals, all the impulses and emotions of men, women, and children. “Americanism” teaches not only the relation of the States to the National government, and the relation of citizens to both the State and the National government, but it also teaches the relation of men, women, and children to each other.
This is a government by the people, and therefore we must understand the people in order that we, the people, may govern.
To arouse patriotism and loyalty we must do more than develop the powers of the mind, do more than expand the field of knowledge. We must inspire in the heart faith, confidence, and love. Men must not only learn how to govern, but they must learn how to be governed. We must not only learn to command, but also to obey. Our spirits must be so [pg 010] molded that we can submit to duly constituted authority, submission to which is the most lofty expression of American patriotism.
Submission to authority in America is submission to law, for no man in this country has any authority to command or direct a fellowman, except as the law made by the people vests him with such authority.
To inspire devotion to our country we must arouse in the hearts of our people a sense of gratitude for the blessings which come to us because we live in free America, gratitude for the rights and liberties which we possess, which are protected by the guaranties of a written Constitution adopted by the people themselves.
There is only one way in which the average person may be brought to see what America has done for him, and that is by contrasting the rights, privileges, and opportunities which he has with those possessed by others in the same walk of life before the Constitution became the bulwark of the people against injustice and wrong.