March of the Flag Persuasive Speech
Fellow-citizens—it is a noble land that God has given us; a land that can feed and clothe the world;
a land whose coast lines would inclose half the countries of Europe; a land set like a sentinel
between the two imperial oceans of the globe; a greater England with a nobler destiny. It is a mighty
people that He has planted on this soil; a people sprung from the most masterful blood of history; a
people perpetually revitalized by the virile workingfolk of all the earth; a people imperial by virtue of
their power, by right of their institutions, by authority of their heaven-directed purposes, the
propagandists and not the misers of liberty.
Shall we turn these peoples back to the reeking hands from which we have taken them? Shall we
abandon them, with Germany, England, Japan, hungering for them? Shall we save them from those
nations, to give them a self-rule of tragedy?
They ask us how we shall govern these new possessions. I answer: Out of local conditions and the
necessities of the case methods of government will grow. If England can govern foreign lands, so
can America. If Germany can govern foreign lands, so can America. If they can supervise
protectorates, so can America.
Will you say by your vote that American ability to govern has decayed, that a century's experience in
self-rule has failed of a result? Will you affirm by your vote that you are an infidel to American power
and practical sense? Or will you say that ours is the blood of government; ours the heart of
dominion; ours the brain and genius of administration? Will you remember that we do but what our
fathers did—we but pitch the tents of liberty farther westward, farther southward—we only continue
the march of the flag?
The march of the flag!
In 1789 the flag of the Republic waved over 4,000,000 souls in thirteen states, and their savage
territory which stretched to the Mississippi, to Canada, to the Floridas. The timid minds of that day
said that no new territory was needed, and, for the hour, they were right. But Jefferson, through
whose intellect the centuries marched; Jefferson, who dreamed of Cuba as an American state;
Jefferson, the first Imperialist of the Republic—Jefferson acquired that imperial territory which swept
from the Mississippi to the mountains, from Texas to the British possessions, and the march of the
flag began!
And, now, obeying the same voice that Jefferson heard and obeyed, that Jackson heard and
obeyed, that Monroe heard and obeyed, that Seward heard and obeyed, that Grant heard and
obeyed, that Harrison heard and obeyed, our President today plants the flag over the islands of the
seas, outposts of commerce, citadels of national security, and the march of the flag goes on!
There are so many real things to be done—canals to be dug, railways to be laid, forests to be felled,
cities to be builded, unviolated fields to be tilled, priceless markets to be won, ships to be launched,
