Southwest High School - Roundup Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

Page 25 text:

and South are not enemies, but friends. Continuing he stated, We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. Thus Lincoln firmly believed in the preservation of the union, but a union based on understanding and cooperation among its several parts-not states loosely joined, but the United States. He believed in a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. He believed that every American, every lover of liberty should have reverence for the laws. Lincoln was acquainted with the smiles and tears of a nation torn by internal strife. However, through his simplicity, his truthfulness, his wholehearted- ness, and his trust in a just God, Lincoln led his people onward to a complete victory. Little appreciated in his lifetime, as were Washington and Jefferson, Lincoln's role as savior of the Federal Union has been increasingly clear to each succeeding generation. Woodrow Wilson, student, thinker, writer, teacher, and statesman was truly a leader. In time of world strife he became the spokesman for democracy and thereby further exalted America as the champion of liberty and justice. He believed that no government could succeed without the reign of law based on the consent of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion of mankind. He also believed that world peace should be founded on the Uequality of nations and that every people should be left free to determine its own policy, its own way of development unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid, the little along with the great and powerful. At Versailles in l9l9 Wilson argued for peace without victory. However, unfortunately, this great humani- tarian viewpoint was not employed as the guiding principle in making the treaty, and thus the foundations for the present European chaos were laid. Regardless of our birthplace, regardless of our parentage We, as true Ameri- cans, should honor the memory of such leaders as Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Wilson. Vle should express gratitude for the inheritance be- queathed to us by these men, and we should highly resolve to preserve, protect. and defend this inheritance unimpaired, and pass it on to our descendents, enlarged and enriched. Virginia I:'4lmi'nxmn Twenty-one

Page 24 text:

PER.SONIFICATIONS OF DEMOCRACY By LEROY HART A nation is made great, not alone by its fruitful acres, but by the men who cultivate them, not alone by its mines, but by the men who develop them: not alone by its forests, but by the men who utilize them. America was a magnificent land when Columbus came to its shores, but Americans have made it a magniicent nation. Great Americans such as Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Wilson have not only proclaimed the principles of democracy to others, but applied these principles in their lives of public service. Hence they represent or personify democracy. Emerson, one of America's most pro- found philosophers, expresses this idea in his essay on Self-Reliance 'when he states that 'lEvery true man is a cause, a country, and an age: requires infinite spaces and numbers, and time fully to accomplish his design:-and posterity seems to follow his steps as a train of clients. One of the prime factors aiding Americans in making this a great nation has been the coincidence of thoughts and ideals among the great leaders who have guided their countrymen in building America. Since thoughts to become articulate must be expressed in the form of speech, the following paragraphs contain public utterances of our great leaders representing, in succeeding periods of our history, their views on the principles of Americanism and democracy. George Washington was a man among men, towering above the common in all respects. He venerated truth and virtue above profit and advantage. He sought always the public good, and preferred the approval of his own conscience to popular applause. Washington believed that Hthe preservation of the sacred fire of liberty is intrusted to the hands of the American people. He believed in the characteristic rights of freed men. He believed that Americans should observe good faith and justice toward all nations. He believed that religion and morality are indispensible supports and that without religious principles national morality cannot prevail. Living by these principles won Washington the title, Father of his country. He was truly great in every way, and was indeed Hfirst in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. To the American of the eighteenth century. Washington personified democracy. Thomas Jefferson, the personification of the democratic movement of the early nineteenth century, embodied the typical American spirit of freedom and equality. Few men, if any, have more profoundly influenced American life than Jefferson. Jefferson believed and wrote into the Declaration of Inde- pendence that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights: that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness-that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. He also expressed his belief in equal and exact justice to all men and in 'ifreedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person. Such were the tenets of Thomas Jefferson, whose confidence in the masses was hardly understandable to such Federalist leaders as Hamilton and John Adams, And so great was the influence of Jefferson in the first quarter of the nineteenth century that the forward surge of democracy in those decades has since been known as Jeffersonian' democracy. Possessing profound simplicity in speech and action, expressing great love for and patience with his countrymen, and showing the strictest truthfulness and honesty in his dealings with all men, Abraham Lincoln holds a unique place in our history. Lincoln believed that the government of the people. by the people, and for the people was the only legitimate government. In his Second Inaugural Address in 1865 he told his countrymen that the North Twenry

Page 26 text:

DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION By MARGARET FULTON In considering the subject of democracy we must not neglect the important role of education. Throughout the history of our country there has been a close relationship between the development of democracy and the advance of education. Without the basic principles of democracy, it is doubtful whether our free educational facilities could have developed to the high point that they have. While education in America has yet a long way to go to attain the ideal, we have come a long way in a comparatively short time. Since democracy is fundamentally the rule of the people, it demands for successful operation an educated people. Democracy in our country cannot take many additional steps forward unless the great number who are illiterate and who don't think for themselves is greatly reduced. A democracy in the hands of an uneducated people will inevitably degenerate into boss rule, the iirst step on the road to dictatorship. The warning given in Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here should jar every American out of any feeling of false security. In the infancy of our country a very few men understood the need for an educated people, and advocated an extensive system of free public schools. During the colonial period while we were under the rule of England, schooling for the masses was not thought important in this country. Most of the few schools that existed were private schools, supported by churches or missionary societies. The boys, except a few who could prepare for college with a tutor. received no education beyond the early teens. There were no medical schools or schools of law, and the boys who wanted to enter these professions became apprentices to a practicing doctor or lawyer. It was not considered necessary, of course, to send girls to school. The daughters of the wealthy might take lessons in French, dancing, music, and painting: but the majority of girls received no formal schooling, All that was expected of girls was to marry early after learning the household tasks from their mothers. It is difficult for us in 1940 to understand the narrow, aristocratic point of view that prompted Governor Berkeley of colonial Virginia to say, I thank God there are no free schools or printing, and I hope that We shall not have Twenty-ttbo