Teddy Roosevelt speech to the New York City Chamber of Commerce November 11, 1902:
“… it is a pleasure to address a body whose members possess to an eminent degree the traditional American self-reliance of spirit which makes them scorn to ask from the government, whether of State or of Nation, anything but a fair field and no favor; who confide not in being helped by others, but in their own skill, energy, and business capacity to achieve success. The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight that he shall not be a mere passenger, but shall do his share in the work that each generation of us finds ready to hand; and, furthermore, that in doing his work he shall show not only the capacity for sturdy self-help but also self-respecting regard for the rights of others.”
- traditional American self-reliance
- scorn to ask from the government
- a fair field and no favor
- not in being helped by others
- able and willing to pull his weight that he shall not be a mere passenger
- shall do his share in the work
- sturdy self-help
- self-respecting regard for the rights of others
But you didn’t want to be a good citizen. So now you are an alien.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. “The civil laws reduce an ungrateful freedman to his original slavery” Libertinum ingratum leges civiles in pristinam servitutem redigunt. Every Law Dictionary will tell you this.