The Duty of the Citizen Persuasive Speech
So much for what I have to say to you purely as Harvard men. Now, a word which applies to you merely
as it applies to all college men, to all men in this country who have received the benefits of a
college education, and what I have to say on this topic can properly be said under the auspices of
your Political Club.
You here when you graduate will take up many kinds of work; but, there is one work in which all of
you should take part simply as good American citizens, and that is the work of self-government.
Remember, in the first place, that to take part in the work of government does not in the least mean
of necessity to hold office. It means to take an intelligent, disinterested and practical part in
the everyday duties of the average citizen.
Each man here should feel that he has no excuse, as a citizen in a democratic republic like ours, if
he fails to do his part in the government. It is not only his right to do so, but his duty; his duty
both to the nation and to himself.
A man may neglect his political duties because he is too lazy, too selfish, too shortsighted, or too
timid; but whatever the reason may be it is certainly an unworthy reason, and it shows either a
weakness or worse than a weakness in the man's character.
Above all, you college men, remember that if your education, the pleasant lives you lead, make you
too fastidious, too sensitive to take part in the rough hurly-burly of the actual work of the world,
if you become overcultivated, so over-refined that you cannot do the hard work of practical
politics, then you had better never have been educated at all.
The weakling and the coward are out of place in a strong and free community.
The man who is merely a voter, who merely votes, is not necessarily a good citizen. He must take an
intelligent interest in public affairs. He must be willing to give his time, his thought, and his
effort to the community in which he lives.
No man has a right to shirk his share of the burden of citizenship. If he does so, he not only fails
in his duty to his country, but he fails in his duty to himself.
