n origin than upon
native Americans.

For we Americans of foreign antecedents are here not by the accidental
right of birth, but by our own free choice for better or for worse.

We are your fellow-citizens because we made solemn oath of allegiance
to America. Accepting that oath as given in good faith you have opened
to us in generous trust the portals of American opportunity and
freedom, and have admitted us to membership in the family of
Americans, giving us equal rights in the great inheritance which has
been created by the blood and the toil of your ancestors, asking
nothing from us in return but decent citizenship and adherence to
those ideals and principles which are symbolized by the glorious flag
of America.

Woe to the foreign-born American who betrays the trust which you have
reposed in him!

Woe to him who considers his American citizenship merely as a
convenient garment to be worn in fair weather but to be exchanged for
another one in time of storm and stress!

Woe to the German-American, so called, who, in this sacred war for a
cause as high as any for which ever people took up arms, does not feel
a solemn urge, does not show an eager determination to be in the very
forefront of the struggle; does not prove a patriotic jealousy, in
thought, in action and in speech to rival and to outdo his native-born
fellow-citizen in devotion and in willing sacrifice for the country of
his choice and adoption and sworn allegiance, and of their common
affection and pride.

As Washington led Americans of British blood to fight against Great
Britain, as Lincoln called upon Americans of the North to fight their
very brothers of the South, so Americans of German descent are now
summoned to join in our country's righteous struggle against a people
of their own blood, which, under the evil spell of a dreadful
obsession, and, Heaven knows! through no fault of ours, has made
itself the enemy of this peace-loving Nation, as it is the enemy of
peace and right and freedom throughout the world.

To gain America's independence, to defeat oppression and tyranny, was
indeed to gain a great cause.

To preserve the Union, to eradicate slavery, was perhaps a greater
still.

To defend the very foundations of liberty and humanity, the very
groundwork of fair dealing between nations, the very basis of
peaceable living together among the peoples of the earth against the
fierce and brutal onslaught of ruthless, lawless, faithless mi