{"product_id":"2940012862778","title":"AN AMERICAN","description":"INTRODUCTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere are many characteristics that are essential to true Americanism;\u003cbr\u003eamong these, none is more prominent than an inborn desire, not only to\u003cbr\u003eobtain personal liberty, but, also, to see justice done to others.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe, as Americans, say, with loving pride, that we are citizens of that\u003cbr\u003e_one fair land whose single boast has always been that it was free_.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOppression of the weak and ignorant, by those who are wiser and stronger\u003cbr\u003ethan they, has, always, aroused in us pronounced, and, often, openly\u003cbr\u003eexpressed, indignation. More than once, have we, as a nation, arrayed\u003cbr\u003eourselves upon the side of the down-trodden and pitiful, and, in every\u003cbr\u003esuch instance, we have greatly increased and enhanced the well-being of\u003cbr\u003ethose whose cause we have espoused.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe have never gone out of our way to look for trouble, being more\u003cbr\u003einclined to attend to our own affairs than to oversee those of our\u003cbr\u003eneighbors, and, yet, when, repeatedly, gross acts of injustice and\u003cbr\u003ecruelty have been forced under our observation, we have, at times, been\u003cbr\u003earoused to a state of what we have honestly believed to be righteous\u003cbr\u003eindignation, and, in these circumstances, we have conducted ourselves\u003cbr\u003ein accordance with our ability and the fervor of our convictions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePrior to the evening of February fifteenth, eighteen hundred and\u003cbr\u003eninety-eight, our relations with the government of Spain were amicable;\u003cbr\u003ewhile we, as a people, sympathized, to some extent, with the uprisings\u003cbr\u003eof native Cubans, yet, those who were at the head of our national\u003cbr\u003eaffairs did not, in any instance, uphold or palliate the unlawful acts\u003cbr\u003eof the insurrectionists; but, during the hours of darkness of that\u003cbr\u003enever-to-be-forgotten night, a dastardly and totally inexcusable deed,\u003cbr\u003ein spite of the recent renewal of our friendly intercourse with the\u003cbr\u003eSpanish government, made of that nation a foe to be contended against\u003cbr\u003ewith all the might that was in us.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile our only object, in the beginning of the Spanish-American war, was\u003cbr\u003eto teach the Spaniard the lesson he had so richly deserved to learn, at\u003cbr\u003ethe same time, as the results of autocratic misrule were brought, more\u003cbr\u003eand more closely, under our direct observation, we took much honest\u003cbr\u003epride in the reflection that we were not only resenting, as became free\u003cbr\u003eand enlightened men and women, an injury to our own well-beloved\u003cbr\u003ecountry, but that we were, at the same time, giving to a people, whose\u003cbr\u003enecks were raw and bleeding from the yoke of a tyrannical exercise of\u003cbr\u003eabsolute power, an opportunity to throw off that yoke, and become, in\u003cbr\u003edue time, a self-governed and a self-respecting and an independent\u003cbr\u003enation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOur short and fiery encounter with Spain demonstrated, as many years of\u003cbr\u003eunbroken peace and prosperity had not done and never could do, the\u003cbr\u003einvincibility of American arms, and the unexampled superiority of\u003cbr\u003eAmerican daring, devotion, inventive genius and self-adjusting prowess;\u003cbr\u003eit was supposed that we had a very inadequate naval equipment, and that\u003cbr\u003eour standing army was very small, besides being poorly trained; in spite\u003cbr\u003eof this widely spread supposition, our troops won many brilliant\u003cbr\u003evictories upon the sea as well as on the land.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe same spirit that saved the day for freedom and the right at Bunker\u003cbr\u003eHill and Bennington animated the descendants of those gallant and\u003cbr\u003eintrepid warriors, who, soon after the heroic birth of our Republic,\u003cbr\u003edefended the cause they deemed to be a sacred one with all that they\u003cbr\u003eheld dear, when they, too, went to meet the carefully trained and richly\u003cbr\u003ecaparisoned phalanxes of those who bowed their heads and bent their\u003cbr\u003esuppliant knees unto an earthly king.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn American volunteer is as nearly unconquerable as any merely human\u003cbr\u003ebeing can ever really be; his whole being is entirely devoted to the\u003cbr\u003eprinciple for the vindication of which he is about to enter into bodily\u003cbr\u003ecombat; he is not hampered or bound down by anything that does not meet\u003cbr\u003ewith the approval of his own conscience; physically, mentally, and\u003cbr\u003emorally, he is the equal of any enemy against whom he may be pitted;\u003cbr\u003eabove him there floats a flag that has never been defeated, behind him\u003cbr\u003eare glorious deeds of valor that are well worthy of emulation, and\u003cbr\u003ebefore him are the hopes and aspirations of those who, with their feet\u003cbr\u003efirmly planted upon solid ground, practical, energetic and capable, yet,\u003cbr\u003ealways, move among their fellows, seeing visions, dreaming dreams.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145466331376,"sku":"2940012862778","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012862778_p0.jpg?v=1763573690","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012862778","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}